HOW TO BE SINGLE (****)

(2016) Alice (Dakota Johnson), in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun), decides she needs them to take a break so she can explore for awhile what it means to be single.  Moving in with her obstetrician sister Meg (Leslie Mann) in Manhattan, she lands a job as a paralegal for a prestigious law firm ... where, on day one, she meets the not-so-prestigious Robin (the hilarious Rebel Wilson), who is determined to teach Alice how to be single in style.  Much partying, booze, and sleeping with a bartender named Tom (Anders Holm) follows.  Meanwhile, Meg - who has been on her own for so long she's grown almost fanatically independent - comes to terms with the fact that she wants to have a baby by going the in vitro fertilization route ... in time to meet a younger man who may want more than sex from her ... as Tom, the bartender and consummate player, finds his attention taken up a bit too much by Lucy (Alison Brie), who uses algorithms and graphs to plow through every dating site in the book, turning finding a man into a full-time job as she sits in his bar night after night for the wi-fi.  The film got mixed reviews, but I loved it; loved the views and magic of New York City (my prejudice, I admit) it portrayed, loved the humor - but what really impressed me is it wasn't one of those films that puts out the message that a person (especially a woman) has to find love to be happy.  That being single isn't just okay, but in some ways it's so much better.  And that "original" idea, in a romantic comedy, was very refreshing to see.  (rated R)