The Hating Game is a 2021 romantic comedy set in a New York publishing office. Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman become rivals after two companies join together, and both want the same managing job. Lucy is warm, driven, and guided by her sense of right and wrong, while Josh is cold, neat, and guarded. Their insults and office games slowly turn into attraction, sex, and a relationship that survives a final fight over work and trust.
The film gives Lucy a clear career goal and lets her challenge Bexley, a rude boss who treats women as less important. Helen, a woman of color, shares control of the company, and black women also appear as a co-worker and the human resources director. These choices create a mild empowerment and diversity signal, but they do not control the story. The film mainly sells a steamy romance about two rivals, honest communication, family pressure, and learning to see past first impressions.
Community feedback
Was our 22% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Hating Game.
Woke representation / casting
The movie gives the company a woman-of-color co-head, a black co-worker, and a black human resources director. These are visible supporting roles, and the film is more diverse than the source novel. The two main characters remain white, and the casting is not sold as a diversity message. The modern New York setting makes the choices plausible, so the signal is noticeable but limited.
22%
Woke political dialogue
The film includes direct gendered talk when Lucy asks Josh whether his remark is something he says to women. The human resources manager also says that Lucy and Josh have caused four complaints. These lines add a small workplace sexism signal, but the movie has no political speech about identity, policy, or activism.
8%
Identity-driven story themes
Lucy is a capable woman who wants a leadership job and refuses to give up her ethics. The film treats Bexley’s sexist behavior toward Lucy and Helen as wrong, and it lets Lucy challenge him. That gives the romance a mild empowerment layer, but the main story is about attraction, trust, and family wounds.
18%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Bexley is a recurring male authority figure who is shown as a chauvinist and who dismisses Lucy and Helen. Josh’s father also pressures him to follow a traditional career path and treats his brother as the standard to match. The film pushes back on these forms of male control, but it does not attack capitalism, religion, or Western institutions as a whole. The criticism stays inside a romance side story.
22%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The movie adapts Sally Thorne’s contemporary romance and does not change a legacy hero, a historic figure, or a real event for identity reasons. The Manhattan setting and shortened scenes are ordinary adaptation choices.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Not present. Reviewed audience and news discussion centered on the romance, the book adaptation, casting fit, chemistry, and a rushed ending. No major anti-woke or anti-left complaint tied to the film was found.
0%
Creator track record context
The director and writers have low stored woke scores of 1, 10, and 0. Lucy Hale has a score of 25 because she has supported gender equality, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, and women’s equity work. Other stored producer and casting scores are mostly low or modest, and interviews did not frame this film around activism or identity. This gives weak background context only.
12%
Production
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