An air of predictability settles over Josh Boone\u2019s impossibly maudlin Regretting You in its very first scene. Adapted by Susan McMartin from the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, the film opens at a beach party in 2007, where demure 18-year-olds Morgan (Allison Williams) and Jonah (Dave Franco) leisurely watch as their respective partners, Chris (Scott Eastwood) and Morgan\u2019s sister Jenna (Willa Fitzgerald), join a game of beer pong, at which point Jonah comments, \u201cHow did we both end up with our complete opposites?\u201d <\/p>\n
Chris and Jenna\u2019s ensuing flirtatious banter makes plain that the two of them were really perfect for one another. At least that\u2019s abundantly clear to the audience, which makes the lengths to which this maudlin film goes to in order to also make that fact clear to the characters, after jumping forward 17 years with both mismatched couples still together, a kind of torture.<\/p>\n
Of course, mere predictability isn\u2019t the death knell for this type of film, but Regretting You\u2019s characters are so thinly sketched and psychologically inconsistent that it\u2019s near impossible to buy into the high stakes that the story sets up. Boone\u2019s film doesn\u2019t lack for emotionally traumatic events\u2014a shocking affair, a deadly car crash, and even a cancer diagnosis\u2014but there\u2019s hardly a moment here that feels remotely lived in and grounded.<\/p>\n
The decision to have Williams and Franco, both in their late 30s when the film was shot, play their characters as teens may be the most egregious example of Regretting You\u2019s indifference to verisimilitude. But it also comes through in everything from the props and sets, which are as pristine and artificial as those in a model home, or those you\u2019d see in a Hallmark original.<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s lone bright spot is Makenna Grace, who, as Morgan\u2019s 16-year-old daughter Clara, makes everything from the girl\u2019s vulnerability to her spunky na\u00efvet\u00e9 feel recognizably real. But for as promising as the glimpses into her contentious relationship with her mom may be, Clara\u2019s will-they-won\u2019t-they dynamic with the troubled Miller (Mason Thames) takes up more of the film\u2019s attention. Ultimately, everything ends up exactly how you\u2019d expect, with the filmmakers inability to imbue their characters, or the world they inhabit, with any depth or authenticity making it easy for us to regret the time we\u2019ve wasted watching the film in the first place.<\/p>\n
Score:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0Cast:<\/strong> Allison Williams, Mckenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Thames, Sam Morelos, Scott Eastwood, Willa Fitzgerald, Clancy Brown \u00a0Director:<\/strong> Josh Boone \u00a0Screenwriter:<\/strong> Susan McMartin \u00a0Distributor:<\/strong> Paramount Pictures \u00a0Running Time:<\/strong> 117 min \u00a0Rating:<\/strong> PG-13 \u00a0Year:<\/strong> 2025 Since 2001, we’ve brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we\u2019re committed to keeping our content free and accessible\u2014meaning no paywalls or fees.<\/p>\n If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon<\/a> or making a donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An air of predictability settles over Josh Boone\u2019s impossibly maudlin Regretting You in its very first scene. Adapted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-521648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115422363946789797","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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