The Hating Game (2022) We've sat through more romantic comedies than no sane person should watch due to running the risk of brain damage........
Many of these viewings, of course, came at the request of BD (Beloved Daughter) whom we are forever powerless to deny anything......
And if there exists one true and unalterable fact we've gleaned from sitting through all these romances, it's this.....
Rom-coms can get away with murder - terrible plots, stale gags, the most exhausted, worn out cliches, and even annoying, grating supporting actors playing the best friends of the leads......
As long as there's chemistry between our rom-com boy and girl.
Yes, that elusive "chemistry", the subtle, unspoken spark that any rom-com's two stars must achieve.......to make us believe they enjoy each other's company, to make us believe they're soulmates, to make us believe them as convincing, credible lovers.
Without the chemistry, it won't mean a damn thing that the movie's well written, well edited, well photographed.......
If the leads don't connect, it's a waste of everyone's time.....
Now here's the good news of today's post. This movie gets it right. And the boy-girl chemistry goes off the charts almost from the very first scene.
"The Hating Game", based on a best selling book, fiercely embraces the most popular trope of the rom-com universe (both books and films)......Enemies to Lovers.
We all know the drill. They start out loathing each other, then slowly discover.....(as if we all didn't know)......they were meant for each other. Hug. Kiss. Fade Out.
The common recipe here usually consists of a sweet, passive girl up against a decidedly obnoxious, aggressive guy. But "The Hating Game" ups the ante by making our squabbling duo both domineering, take charge, Type A personalities. The better for a Clash-Of-The-Titans smackdown.....
Which the movie presents to us in Lucy Hale and and Austin Stowall as two execs in New York publishing company.....both of them hotly vying for the same big inter-office promotion. The stakes couldn't be any higher, since the winner will end up as the loser's boss.....an intolerable situation for each of them.
We'll skip over all the usual plot details and get right to the gist of why we'd even bother to write a review of this movie to begin with (besides placating Beloved Daughter)......to make our point about rom-com chemistry.
Maybe Hale and Stowell aren't the most skilled and gifted actors we've ever seen in one of these things, but as far as chemistry.......they've got it to burn, almost up to 5 alarm fire stage.
And the script supplies them with plenty of sharp, witty lines to hurl at each other as they're sniping eventually turns to snuggling..
In fact, we didn't even mind that the film reveals something the actors cleverly clued us in on from the beginning.......that their characters have been secretly infatuated even while lobbing verbal zingers at one another faster than at a Wimbledon tennis match.
And the physical disparity between the towering Stowell and the diminutive Hale became the movie's best visual gag......(gone are the old Hollywood days when actresses used to stand on hidden boxes to smooch their tall co-stars. Stowell simply picks up Hale to bring her up to kissing level.....)
Therefore anyone who must concede the choice of tonight's entertainment to their rom-com loving partner.......we do recommend "The Hating Game". Believe it or not, you might even like it and LOL a few times.....3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)
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