Navigating the world of dating apps these days feels like literal hell on Earth. It makes sense then that F*** Marry Kill – a pet project of Lucy Hale that feels like someone took Sex and the City and Only Murders in the Building and stuck it in a blender – should exist. It is mostly fun, and the story works…until it doesn’t.

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The movie starts off like many typical romantic comedies: a group of 30-somethings gathers at a bar, and we learn our heroine Eva (Lucy Hale) is trying to bounce back from a failed long-term relationship. The group suggests she dive into the shallow, shark-filled pool of online dating while noting that a serial killer – nicknamed the Swipe Right Killer – has been murdering women from dating apps and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting love-seekers everywhere. As if being single weren’t scary enough.

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Despite the protests of her overprotective big sister Valerie (Brooke Nevin), Eva wastes no time swiping and playing the field for the first time in years. There’s Norman; a cute security technician who’s interested in checking out way more than Eva’s home installation system. There’s Mitch, a hot chef who Eva mostly appreciates for what he can cook up in the bedroom. And then there’s Kyle, a dorky former classmate of Eva’s who appears to have been a late bloomer. While keeping her options wide open, Eva starts to suspect one of her flings might be the Swipe Right Killer – and that she herself might be the next victim.  

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It's tough to pigeonhole F*** Marry Kill into one specific genre. It’s not scary enough to be a horror, and not funny enough to be a full-fledged comedy. Still, the film has some good things going for it. Lucy Hale is committed to the bit, and she’s very likeable as a character who could have been kind of annoying if played by a less capable actress. The mystery aspect is intriguing (I, too, found myself wondering who the killer was) and there was enough lighthearted suspense to keep me from pressing pause during its 97-minute runtime. Where it begins to unravel is toward the end, when any real commentary about the scary world of online dating is undone with a reveal that just doesn’t quite make sense. It doesn’t completely live up to its potential, but F*** Marry Kill is worth a watch if you’re fine being left a little frustrated.