The Hating Game

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2:16

The Hating Game

R

2021

1h 42m

Romance

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

68%

Tomatometer

28 Reviews

73%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Based on the best-selling book, THE HATING GAME tells the story of ambitious good girl Lucy Hutton and her cold, efficient work nemesis, Joshua Templeton. Committed to achieving professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy ultimately embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is increasingly complicated by her mounting attraction to him.

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Critics Consensus

The Hating Game's dismayingly retrograde approach to the battle of the sexes is often offset by the sparkling chemistry between its well-matched leads.

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Leslie Felperin

Guardian

Aug 8, 2022

2/5

About as bland and as easily consumed as a cone of soft-serve ice-cream on a hot day.

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Stephen Romei

The Australian

Feb 1, 2022

3/5

There are some decent twists, especially when we learn of Joshua's family history, and the chemistry between the two starsripples with possibility.

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Jake Wilson

The Age (Australia)

Jan 28, 2022

2/5

It's a familiar but perfectly viable starting point, in a genre where what matters isn't the premise so much as what you do with it. But director Peter Hutchings and writer Christina Mengert have no ambitions to take us anywhere new.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Apr 27, 2024

1/4

...tedious and uninvolving...

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Gissane Sophia

Lady Geeks Media

Feb 4, 2024

3/5

If you’re a fan of romantic comedies, then The Hating Game is easy to love.

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Javier Ocaña

El Pais (Spain)

Nov 18, 2022

The first half hour dreadfully introduces its protagonists... However, as the unresolved sexual tension initially builds up into heat and evolves into true love and the beginning of a relationship, the story improves. [Full review in Spanish]

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KaitlinF

Dec 10, 2021

I am a huge fan of the book and had high expectations going into the movie. They captured their relationship and overall storyline of the book beautifully. Lucy and Josh had great chemistry. Can't wait to watch it again!

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Jennifer S

@Jenspective Jun 16, 2026

Reminds me of my crush and I. So there's Lucy Hale, Chaos in a cardigan. Dressing like someone is trying to spot her from space. Oooh. Girl! Then there's Josh, the calm, controlled one with repressed feelings. You'd know he was dying inside but his face and attitude give a "I'd rather die than smile at you" energy. I loved the icebreaking kiss in the office elevator. And II admire how things turned out from then on. You'd finish it smiling at these two. Good one.

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M J

@RT21990381 Apr 26, 2026

The male lead is tall and handsome but the chemistry is terrible, like I can't understand how they fall for each other and all of the sudden kiss in the elevator, and end of having sex with each other, the guy even takes the girl to his brother's wedding. I don't think that such situation would happen in real life.

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Bbigvenur657 T

@Venur Mar 4, 2026

The diologe is lacking depth, the diologe of this movie sounds like a 4th grade Creative writing project. The plot is half decent but the climax happens WAY to fast, it feels like the exposition and rising action is rushed Acting is Ass, so unnatural feels like I'm watching a low budget high school play acting. Finally the book is really good and I think if casting was done better and it was better exucuted the movie would have been way better.

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Brigid P

@Brigideliz Jan 31, 2026

I love this movie. I wish she was slightly less awful to him at times but overall it was charming.

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Cathy C

@CathyC00 Jan 31, 2026

Temu version of 50 Shades. The story line had potential but the execution was terrible, cringy in all the wrong ways. I could say more but can’t quite put it into words how bad this movie is, and I’m only half way through.

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Peter Hutchings

Director

Lucy Hale

Lucy Hutton

Corbin Bernsen

Bexley

Austin Stowell

Joshua Templeman

Yasha Jackson

Julie

Brock Yurich

Mack

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Synopsis

Based on the best-selling book, THE HATING GAME tells the story of ambitious good girl Lucy Hutton and her cold, efficient work nemesis, Joshua Templeton. Committed to achieving professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy ultimately embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is increasingly complicated by her mounting attraction to him.

Director: Peter Hutchings
Producer: Brice Dal Farra, Claude Dal Farra, Santosh Govindaraju, Brian Keady, Dan Reardon
Screenwriter: Christina Mengert
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Production Co: BCDF Pictures, Convergent Media.
Rating: R (Some Sexual Content|Language)
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 10, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 10, 2021
Runtime: 1h 42m

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