THE RE-EDUCATION OF MOLLY SINGER - Mark Reviews Movies

The Re-Education of Molly Singer, Lionsgate

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 28, 2023

It's a good thing that Britt Robertson is so effortlessly charming in The Re-Education of Molly Singer, or else the entirety of this contrived comedy might have played as blandly as it's written. The story, from Todd M. Friedman and Kevin Haskin's screenplay, involves a 20-something attorney who's looking for some good feelings and meaning in her life. Could that come from returning to college, where the character had what was undoubtedly the best times of her still-young life?

It's a familiar conceit, perhaps (and made even more so by an inciting incident that's more than slightly reminiscent of another movie that was released only a few months prior—and add to that the fact that Robertson looks a bit like Jennifer Lawrence, the star of said other movie). It's also one containing some potential—dependent entirely on whether the filmmakers care more about the character and what she actually wants from the experience or the string of gags, complications, and awkward situations that could be developed from the premise.

To make the answer clear, this movie features an extended drinking-game sequence, complete with running commentary from a disembodied voice that gives it the feeling of a live sports broadcast, and a third act that revolves around a kidnapping, a frame job, a court case, and a rush to find exonerating evidence. Yes, it's a very good thing Robertson gives this character such a clear sense of personality and charm, because the movie itself doesn't seem to care too much at all about her character.

She's Molly Singer, of course, who works as one of many non-partnered attorneys at a law firm run by Brenda (Jaime Pressly). Molly wants to have some fun in her life, but that career keeps getting in the way. That doesn't stop her best friend Ollie (Nico Santos)—who is gay, just to ensure that cliché is fulfilled, although Santos is entertaining and sincere enough to forget that's the case after a bit—from taking her out to bars and clubs often.

After one night of heavy drinking, Molly awakens to discover that she's late for a very important court case—one that her job depends on at least showing up for it. Instead, she fails even that minimum requirement, but noticing Molly's graduation photo while firing her, Brenda comes up with a different, temporary gig for Molly.

Brenda's son Elliot (Ty Simpkins) is a socially awkward loner who just happens to be starting school at Molly's alma mater. Her former boss will pay Molly to pretend to be a new student, become friends with Elliot, and make sure that he becomes popular and starts to feel better about himself, following the death of his father.

That's a fine starting point for Elliot as a character, too. The script, though, gets right to work at adding some additional complications to the mix, when Elliot accidentally bumps into a skateboarder, resulting in his heavy bag landing on the board and rolling right into the ankle of the college's star athlete. Immediately, just about the entire student body has it out for him.

Obviously, the situational comedy matters more in director Andy Palmer's movie, whether that be an awkward exchange between Molly—as well as Ollie, whom she convinces to join her at college—and a far-right housing department clerk, Elliot unintentionally starting a rivalry with frat bro Stu (Zach Scheerer) after the freshman's sizeable endowment is put on display following a pants-dropping prank, or the aforementioned party and legal matters. It's not that the movie tries to be funny. It's that it tries to be so in such convoluted ways, without giving us a clear narrative or even characters in which to ground them.

Some of the humor, thankfully, is amusing, in spite of itself and its attempt at being unnecessarily elaborate. Much of that is thanks, again, to Robertson, who's clearly having fun as a character desperate to, well, have fun, but Santos, as a subdued version of the cliché the screenwriters are going for, and Simpkins, as a likeable-enough loser who doesn't want to be, are fine and funny here, too.

Elliot even has a potentially sweet romance develop with Lindsay (Cierra Ramirez), although the movie leaps ahead in time to skip over that. There is, after all, still Molly's deception with which to deal and, for some reason, the abduction of a rival school's mascot to cram into the plot at the last minute, in order to downplay the actual plot complication the movie has established. It's an especially strange decision, although the courtroom shenanigans are sort of amusing regardless.

Basically, this is a case of a movie working against its potential and its strengths, simply because it doesn't trust those simple elements. With those focused on, The Re-Education of Molly Singer might have worked, too, but instead, we get this slightly appealing but very messy movie.

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