Previews made viewers believe that the film “How to be Single” would be the next hit comedy, featuring a depressed recent single and her flamboyant confidante, who embraces the single lifestyle, taking on the streets, parties, and men of New York City together in a hilarious fashion. While watching the city that never sleeps on the big screen, some viewers may have fallen asleep themselves from the lack of laughs and the dreadful placement of an ending that could have been found in a Lifetime movie.

The film features three women on their quest to find love. Alice, Meg (Alice’s sister), and Lucy. While it seems simple to keep up with three women’s stories, the previews for the film did not prepare the viewer for this and one may not catch on until 30 minutes into the film.

The “journeys” they go on are shoddy as well, as each women only encounters one or maybe two men in a film where the previews made one think the main character would eventually embrace the single life with a myriad of partners.

The film strays from the previews by placing two other women, with their own dating stories, into it. It is hard to follow because it flips back and forth between the three women’s stories without any indication that it is about to do so.

To add to the failures of this film, Alice (played by Dakota Johnson) is a boring character. She breaks up with her boyfriend for the cliché reason of needing time alone to find herself. Alice then finds Robin, a confident and outgoing woman that takes Alice under her wing in an effort to help her embrace the single lifestyle as we saw in the previews.

Through the film we expect that Alice will make a change, become a confident woman, and make the most out of New York. Unfortunately she does not, and her character is left as a dull disappointment.

Meg, played by Leslie Mann, is the first incredibly random character in the film. Meg was seen nowhere in the previews for the film and throughout it her presence is a true mystery. It’s almost as though her crazy story, which could have been a “Catfish” episode after she hides her in vitro pregnancy from her boyfriend, was thrown in to fill time.

Lucy, played by Alison Brie, is another quite random character. Viewers can easily get her story confused since she was also not shown in the previews and she strongly resembles Alice. A viewer may think their stories are one in the same until getting deep into the film and realizing they are actually two different people.

The quickest way to differentiate between the two is by closely paying attention to their stories and realizing that Alice could be a certifiable crazy dater with all of her apps and algorithms to find love, meanwhile Alice takes a much more casual approach to her relationships, like a normal person.

In the end we are left learning a lesson solely from Alice, who is still single and has learned that it is okay to be alone, find your self, and bond with friends who really care about you. Cute story, but the typical person who thought this movie was going to be all about partying is left incredibly disappointed. The previews made viewers believe this movie would be the next “Train Wreck” but it sadly did not live up to the comical expectations that the previews set for it.