Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against cold and efficient nemesis Joshua, a rivalry that is complicated by her growing attraction to him.
The Hating Game is a competent but formulaic enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy that hews closely to genre conventions. The plot follows a well-worn path with few surprises for fans of the subgenre, and the NYC publishing house setting adds little freshness. Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell share reasonable chemistry and deliver performances slightly above the rom-com baseline, elevating what could have been entirely forgettable material. Cinematography is unremarkable and TV-movie adjacent. Novelty is low — it's a by-the-numbers adaptation of a popular novel with no distinctive directorial voice or tonal invention. The ending satisfies genre expectations without subverting them, landing as a pleasant if predictable resolution.