The Hating Game (2021) Poster

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7/10
I'm a sucker for these romantic comedies
arod_8521 January 2022
Points for originality, nope. Clever plot with a unique twist? No. Hilarious. Not really. Memorable acting? Naw. Charming and enjoyable? Absolutely. This movie isn't going to win any awards but I liked it very much. If you are a sucker for cheesy romantic comedies like I am (actually not meant as a diss) watch this because it was entertaining and really cute.
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5/10
Did the writers/director read the book?
rociosargiotto11 December 2021
Was it really that hard to add 20/30 minutes to the movie and actually get their dynamic right?

First off, why do they keep making movies this short when there's actual material to add to the storyline?

Second, they really did not get the relationship right. Part of why the book is so loved is because of how their relationship progress. They switched small moments between them that are key part of the relationship development for useless comedic bits.

I won't say anything bad about the performances, the dislike is not geared towards them.

I think that when you do a movie based on such a well known book, you should try to identify the core scenes and feelings that those scenes transmit, and sadly they didn't do it in this case. Probably most of the hate the movie will get is from the book readers, maybe the rest of the people won't mind it.

Anyhow, to round this up, this movie was not my favourite obviously.
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7/10
Great chemistry and faithful adaptation.
MIssM1911 December 2021
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman "hate" each other. They work together and they are the exact opposite of the other. But they do have something in common: they are both very ambitious, so things take a turn when they are competing for the same job.

I think that as an adaptation is very accurate. Quite faithful to the book. At least the most important scenes are there.

Lucy is the real star of this movie. Nothing against Austin but she truly shines. They have amazing chemistry.

There is not much to say about this. There barely is a plot here. It's not perfect but it is enjoyable as any other romcom these days. There are two characters with sexual tension teasing each other and pushing each other's buttons and that's truly where the fun lies. Add great chemistry between the leads and you got yourself an enjoyable hour and a half.
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6/10
A fairly sensible RomCom
thekarmicnomad21 February 2022
Two workers hate each other but are also attracted to one another.

This is more Rom than it is Com and I liked the leads.

The feud didn't go on for as long as I was expecting - I really thought they would squeeze every last drop of animosity out of the pair before moving on but they didn't.

The pair get to a point where they see things are getting out of hand and talk it through like adults.

This made the film feel more realistic and the characters more believable.

This was refreshing but did vent some of the fun from the movie.

The plot is still pretty silly and as always the hunk has some crippling experience he needs the love of the right woman to fix for him - but that is the nature of the beast.

The two had chemistry and were fun characters. There is a lot to like here.

The editing was a bit snappy and the camera operators had itchy feet.

The worst thing about this was the supporting characters. It looks like they are going to be setup and fleshed out but you only get a nibble of character before they are pushed off screen, only to be dragged back on to do something stupid for comedic purposes.

It really felt like they were crashing a party they weren't invited to and that annoyed me.

Good solid fun - but not a classic.
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7/10
Entertaining Non-Hallmark Hallmark flick
donmccandless-8632016 January 2022
One doesn't tune in to movies like this for the plot, or some earthshaking message. This isn't Hemmingway, or Tolstoy, and the reviews that trash flicks like this are easily ignored.

This Rom-Com follows the same cookie-cutter plot formula one sees on Hallmark, but the writing and execution are far more adult, and the character interactions haven't been sanitized into oblivion. This isn't a movie for children or grandma, due to the inclusion of R-rated language and the sexual content, although that is not gratuitous or graphic in any sense.

The chemistry between the leads is present, so by comparison, that clearly shines. You'll find much deeper chemistry elsewhere, but the mere presence of a somewhat realistic connection between the leads makes this flick shine when compared to the dull, wooden exchanges one finds portrayed in the movies this film will be compared to.

The supporting cast matches up, even though a couple are mere cut-outs, but overall, the hour and a half was entertaining, even though we know how the story is going to end as soon as it begins, but that's not the point of films such as this.
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7/10
Take note Hallmark
oldvicar11 December 2021
If the average Hallmark movie would move even a little along the scale towards this standard, their films might become a little more watchable. It helps the male audience that Lucy Hale is mesmericly beautiful. If I knew this scriptwriter and team were making another rom I'd watch it in a heartbeat. It is not so much that it wasn't entirely predictable - it was - but that is not the point. We didn't have to suffer through godawful pizzicato, awkward interrupted kisses, religious input or a dummy cast of whatever the latest race and sexual orientation quota is. Did I mention Lucy Hale looks good in this?
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5/10
Started so strong
maddiewatchesstuff2 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This movie started off so strong. It felt so realistic and nothing felt forced. I was really enjoying the witty and mean banter between the two leads.

I even enjoyed the chemistry of the side character with Lucy who went on the date with her. It just felt so grounded in reality for me, especially because I had worked with someone who was very similar to Josh, who I had a love/hate dynamic with at work. Outside of work, we were just always kind, respectful, and flirty with each other. So I could completely believe how these two characters interacted under the guise of their strong interest in each other.

However, after they admitted their attraction for each other, beyond their heated actions, it seems like the screenwriters didn't know how to continue to convey their chemistry or interest in each other on screen. It suddenly started to feel forced because we were being told they cared, more than we were able to see it. We were being told there was firey tension, more than we could see it on the screen. The dream Lucy had, contained more fire than their reality, where they rushed to have sex with no "foreplay" so the speak.

Before they admitted they had feelings, Josh was holding Lucy's hair while she puked so I knew he had more feelings before we were told. In comparison, I was taken aback by the entire wedding scene and how many good things the two had said about each other, because we didn't SEE them admire these things about each other in secret. We didn't even see Josh being this amazing leader at work, so it was all so hard to believe. We never saw Josh being a complete mama's boy, calling her about Lucy. It would have actually been nice to see how he had become so tender and nurturing.

And then of course, the third act conflict almost soiled the film for me. The transition from love, back to hate, back to love again was too rapid in those last 15 mins of the movie. We were being told that Lucy loved the company and books, but we didn't see enough of her being this big book worm. So again, everything felt forced. And the kiss in the office in front of everyone?
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8/10
Shortcake
daisukereds11 December 2021
This looks like your typical Hallmark X-mas romance movie.. straight to VHS. But while it's not a Hollywood movie, it is certainly better than anticipated.

I expected to find Austin as the stiff male lead that would drag down the charming presence of Lucy Hale.. but both leads make this film together! They work really well off of each other. Their lines and stabs are really enjoyable, and the "drama" is not heavy enough to be a bother.

Lucy, of course, stands out as the cherry on top of a cake. Her wardrobe is impeccable, and her personality on screen as delightful as Ana de Armas is generally. The movie would not work as well without her.

Good coloring, sets and locations. Fast pace, music choices and editing. Nice production.

I'm surprised to admit I found this quite fun! More importantly, it is structured beyond competently to let you know where everyone stands during the first 13 minutes. I was impressed and already in it by then. The Romance is a bit... slow and on the side, but ultimately is the foundation of the story. You know what you are in for, and that's exactly what you get. Wouldn't change a thing! Had a nice time, since I was in the mood for it.
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7/10
Shortcake
shafattt16 October 2022
Cute movie and if you're into romcoms you'll most likely enjoy this. I believe they did a good job with the casting in terms of physical appearance however I do feel like something was off about Joshua Templeman as far as how the actor portrayed this character. The movie makes Joshua Templeman seem kind of bland and he speaks like a robot. Also, the book does a much better job with the build up between Lucy and Josh whereas the chemistry build up in the movie felt a little bit rushed. Having said that, I still think it was a solid movie adaptation. It is a light hearted, feel good movie and I enjoyed it.
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4/10
Read the book
netaslonim18 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I have to divide this review in two parts. The first one, for those who haven't read the book - it's a movie to pass time with, not the best I've ever seen, but not the worst.

The second part is for those who have read the book. I don't know who though the script represents anything from the book. The guidelines are quite similar, but other than that the plot line are not parallel. They changed big parts of the book, for one, Lucy's eye color. The fact that she's clumsy in the movie, but not in the book. The weird relationship with Danny, which was not in the book. The zero amount of attention to her parents or the strawberry farm, which is a big part in the book, the switch they made with her mom's blog to her Smurf one, which made Lucy seem weirder than she is. The fact that she doesn't call him Joshua and he doesn't call her Lucinda.

The wedding was all off. The receptionist was supposed to be a woman, that Lucy was jealous of. The first night in the hotel, Josh went to help his mom, and him and Lucy did nothing. In the wedding itself, Josh's dad gave his speech before Lucy finds out that Mindy used to date Josh before marrying his brother, in which he says the most ugly sentence, "you've chosen an outstanding Templeman to marry". Only after that speech, Mindy told Lucy Josh and her dated for a year. Josh wasn't broken up with, he ended things with Mindy. Lucy was really upset with the revaluation, she wanted to leave, and only then did Josh's mom and him spoke to her separately. She wanted to go on a bus to the city, but Josh spoke to her in their room and convinced her to stay. In the morning, they went to breakfast with his family. There, she railed his dad for his behavior. When they left, she apologized for making a scene and for being embarrassing, but he just thanked her, she thought he would be upset because she defended him, "You're not mad I rescued you? Boys don't need rescuing." "This one did. And I'll even let you choose which you wanna be. Thelma, or Louise,"

The cringy scene in the office where Josh is making a speech in front of everyone, doesn't happen. The have the conversation at home, where he tells her he quit, and told Bexley and Helene he had a weekend to make her fall in love with him, and that he loved her from the beginning. To demonstrate, he told her to look at her eyes and the color of his bedroom walls. It was the same, robin's-egg blue.

In conclusion, if you haven't read the book, you might enjoy the movie, but I'll recommend reading the book. If you have read the book, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.
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9/10
Shortcake, you're going to love this hate to love story!
cgvsluis1 January 2022
This is a film adaptation of the romantic comedy book by the same title The Hating Game. The general plot is one about two executive assistants (Lucy and Josh) for the two co-directors of the merged organization of two fundamentally different publishing companies who now work together sharing the same small office...and who hate each other.

This film takes place right before Thanksgiving and going into the holiday season, allowing for Christmas decor without being in your face about the holidays. It also starts with Lucy, played by the actress Lucy Hale, giving us a little run down on why she hates Josh and some of the games they play with each other. A new promotional position is announced that both Lucy and Josh want...and it is game on.

Great banter...wonderful hate to love romance that has some pride and prejudice vibes to it. Wonderful chemistry between our two main characters.

This film made me realize how much I love the hate to love trope!

Sweet, funny, biting dialogue...I highly recommend and will watch it again!

The only scene I did wholeheartedly enjoy was the paintball scene, but that was because it was a little hard to keep track of who was who and what was happening...but it was brief and lead to some very sweet scenes between Lucy, Josh and Patrick (Josh's brother).

I loved Josh's nickname of shortcake for Lucy...and the green paint...just melt my heart. Loved it!
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7/10
Wattpad come to life
mps_animaxfriends12 December 2021
It's super light hearted and funny. The chemistry was great and... THAT HEIGHT DIFFERENCE!! I died! It was perfect. Hahahaha.

Lucy is always a fun person to watch on screen. It's nice to see one of her movies doing well.

As I mentioned before, this was the ultimate wattpad novel come to life.
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4/10
Lost depth
morgan_henske18 June 2022
They really lost depth of the relationship between the two main characters by straying too far from the book. We lose our plot and they changed the climax of the story which changes everything. This movie is a happy go lucky film and the book is a real examination of the hate to love troupe. This could've been a much better movie if they had given it another hour and told the story how it was written.
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7/10
Easy watch
tashaclaire11 January 2022
I love an easy watch rom com and this definitely didn't disappoint. Yes predictable, what rom com isn't these days...will definitely be watching again.
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6/10
Better than average - fun/easy watch
I enjoyed this movie, and I do believe it's better than average, but it by no means blew me away. Full disclosure, I am a fan of the book so I could be a bit bias since I already knew the plot and some of the "twists". Also, I saw numerous references in other reviews to Hallmark movies and I must say that is not a fair comparison. This is significantly better when that. Yes, the movie is what you'd expect from a contemporary rom-com. You expect, and get, a happy ending. The journey to that happy ending is mostly enjoyable. I thought The lead actress did a nice job and while the male lead is a yummy piece of eye candy, something was lacking from him. I just didn't feel the magnetism I expected for that character. Regardless of that, this movie was still an enjoyable watch with light content.
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7/10
singer is fabtastic
pwcarter-7298412 December 2021
Movie was typical romp comedy BUT is is great to finally see THE fantastic genius Angelina Jordan sing her first real major movie production ; many more to come with Oscars for sure in the future.
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4/10
Read the Book, Skip the Movie
jennagolitsky8 January 2022
I never make a review but I had to for this one. I absolutely loved the book. I was excited to see the screen adaption. I know all movies cannot do the book justice, but this one is a no where close. The magic of the book was missing here. The poignant. Scenes that make you really get to know and understand Josh and Lucy were missing. It's not just changing the colors of the eyes, or small parts of their games that were missing, but whole scenes and backstories that made me fall in love with Hating Game to begin with. So if you enjoyed the book, maybe skip this movie version.
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10/10
Will be a go-to rewatch comfort film
moviegirl-1311 December 2021
Like a rated R super witty Hallmark movie with snappy dialogue and sizzling chemistry. It's nice to see a rated R romantic comedy that isn't a gross out film and is fun. As a small side note: the production design is fabulous, especially for an independent film.
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6/10
I really wanted to like this
emilearouse14 February 2022
Lucy Hale is wonderful in this. Quirky, adorable, funny, the usual. However, the male lead is SO BORING. Like they could have casted a brick wall and it would have had the same outcome.
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2/10
I thought there could be no worse rom-com film adaption than Something Borrowed, but here we are.
qnhvfp11 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The Hating Game is another beautifully written book turned into a low-budget mess of a film. Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell are well cast as Lucy and Josh and share great chemistry, but they have nothing to work with here. The script is missing all of the emotional intimacy, sexual tension, and sexiness of the book. The dialogue, instead of capturing the depth of Lucy's internal dialogue and connection with Josh, is almost entirely inane banter. The order of key scenes is changed up, completely throwing off the emotional beats of the story. The direction, production quality, and music are terrible. The book's climactic sex scene is reduced to a non-event, just a passionless quickie briefly interrupted by a random shot of a mountain (?!?). A second sex scene is just a collection of bizarre shots of Josh's bedroom. Danny gets way too much screen time as a minor character. I could go on, but... I need to go read the book again to help scrub this movie from my brain.
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10/10
who wrote the script?
myeth-lz24 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Another bad movie adaptation... i'm blaming the scriptwriter. I kinda enjoyed the book... but the movie... jeez, what happened? It cut a lot of great scenes that could have provided context.

I still don't understand how there are writers who can't stick to what's in the book. They just decide to rewrite the entire thing and just randomly pick out scenes that would fit the story they want to tell.

I guess, the most annoying amongst them all was, danny was not supposed to be annoying. He's supposed to be the cool guy you turn into a friend/partner-in-crime. Byt here, he's a cringe.

And vicious banter was so tame. The hate was not established much.

I just wanted more from this movie.
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7/10
Cute Christmasy movie!
bauler-erin12 December 2021
I hated the book but really enjoyed this movie. The book felt boring and predictable but that didn't translate to the movie rendition which was a huge relief. I'm really glad they had people who could act in the main roles too.
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5/10
book is better
ilovegoamoviec9 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This could be biased because I have read the book. I felt like it was severely lacking chemistry and it was insanely rushed. I personally thought Sally Throne's book itself was rushed, so imagine condensing that all into this 1.5 hour movie! Doesn't make sense. It was cute at times but not sure if I enjoyed the casting..Lucinda was way more casual than she was in the book and not as clumsy and funny, but I would say Lucy Hale did a good job. I don't like how they tried to recreate Thorne's decision to keep the location unknown by mixing in random shots of nyc and chicago - just could've kept it anonymous or chosen shots from various cities or just one! It's a cute watch i guess but not as fulfilling as the book.
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7/10
So what now?
nogodnomasters23 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The merger of two diverse publishers brings together Lucy (Lucy Hale) and Joshua (Austin Stowell) in the same office. They are in competition which brings Lucy to a love/hate relationship.

This is another "chick" flick. You know the ending from the DVD cover. I would have loved it had they devised schemes to hurt each other.

Guide: F-word. Sex. Male butt nudity.
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6/10
oh its sooo sticky...
ops-5253512 December 2021
And romantic, just the kind of movies that makes my grumpy old wife melt like a buttercup and become less...grumpier?? Well its a he and she game movie, made over the same recepie as millions of other films of this genre, a stubborn ms and a boneflattering mr perfect, that hates each other as well as have high affections against eachother that a living, happily ever after pulling his guts out as at the same time trying to strangle him in the gutter, as well as he tries to punch the judy outta her,in love until death takes you a part. Yes its the ''la belle chesse'' gringeworthy story that doesnt develope new axons or dendrites of powerful knowledge just like voltaire mentioned...

its a film of a bit higher standard than lifetime, theyve tried to hit some of the best busters made on the topic , one with nick cage and one with mel gibson, namely family man and what women wants, but compared to these favourites of mine its close to zero of the stars of the mighty silverscreen sky panorama of dead romantic and ever so mindful movies...

but its edible even for a grumpy old man, especially when having the command over the ffwd control. So to all women of mite, have a go, its romantic so if you wanna torment your right or left one put this one on.
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