HATESHIP LOVESHIP is a 2013 drama that has Kristen Wiig playing a naive, socially awkward caretaker who works for a family laden with their own emotional problems (Guy Pearce, Nick Nolte, Hailee Steinfeld), revolving around substance abuse and the fallout from a death. Did someone say “Indie!”? A cruel e-mail trick from teenager Steinfeld and her witch of a BGF (Sami Gayle, uncomfortably good and hateful) has the repressed Wiig believing in a romance that’s not there, and what’s left of the 102-minute bummer groans out with some good acting moments adrift in plot-convenient behaviors and incidents that don’t ring true.
Directed by Liza Johnson. With Christine Lahti and Jennifer Jason Leigh in two subplots that go nowhere. Fine cast deserted by their material.