A cheesy melodrama for the heartsick millenials.
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Regretting You, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2019 novel of the same name, breathes the same air as romantic dramas the noughties once so graciously gifted us with – a combo of soul-crushing tragedy and romance that occasionally borders “so bad, it’s good” territory with cult classic, guilty pleasure potential.
Directed by Josh Boone, the same man responsible for helming the critically-acclaimed adaptation of John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars, written by Susan McMartin, 1/4 of the screenwriter team behind the adaptation of After, the film stars Allison Williams, Mckenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Thames, Scott Eastwood, Sam Morelos, and Clancy Brown.
It starts off with a flashback introducing audience to a pair of mismatched couples at a party: the sensible Morgan who doesn’t drink (Williams) is with douchey fratboy Chris whose favourite Morgan is drunk Morgan (Eastwood), while their pensive friend Jonah (Franco) is dating Morgan’s carefree sister Jenny (Fitzgerald) despite obviously being in love with Morgan. Morgan tells Jonah she’s pregnant while Chris and Jenny are off playing round of beerpong. “When You Were Young” by The Killers being called a new song on the radio puts us in 2006.
17 years later, Morgan and Chris are now married and living in Chris’ childhood home with their teenage daughter Clara (Grace). Jonah and Jenny have a baby together (yes, they’re still together though have only just recently reconnected after he disappeared since hearing about Morgan’s pregnancy.) Everyone’s meant to gather for Morgan’s birthday which Clara is late to because of a (spoiler alert!) masterminded meet-cute with highschool hottie Miller (Thames). Their connection is instantly palpable despite him already having a girlfriend, a situation Aunt Jenny advises Clara to stay away from when the young teen confides in her like besties do. (The foreshadowing is not subtle.)
Tragedy soon strikes that sets the rest of the film in motion, teetering between the darkness of loss and anguish from betrayal with the radiance of sickly sweet and giddy puppy love. A fatal car accident has cost Morgan her husband and sister, Jonah his best friend and fiancée, and Clara her father and beloved aunt. Everyone has reason to grieve but it’s not a Colleen Hoover adaptation without more twists because it doesn’t just end there. It’s no actual surprise that Chris and Jenny were in the same car together because they were (not so spoiler alert) having an affair. The film doesn’t give audience enough to care about the sudden deaths of these characters because that’s not the point. It’s the remaining characters and their development that’s the juicy bit here. Jonah keeps showing up at Morgan’s doorstep as a means of giving them reason to trauma-bond. They eventually deduce and confirm the affair, transitioning the grief to anger that gives Morgan a much needed opportunity for release and audience one of the film's best moments.
Williams plays her character straight and narrow but with emotional depth and just the right amount of intuition for comedic beats. Her performance of a woman wronged by the two people she sacrificed so much for is exquisite and almost non-deserving in a film that barely allows itself to cut deeper into the gaping wound that set it on its course.
There is a lot lacking and untold about the deception because the film is more concerned with moving the romantic elements of the story along.
While Morgan is in the pit, Clara is too busy sucking face with Miller to properly mourn. She eventually does, allowing Grace a window to take a break from falling in love on screen to prove she will outgrow the stigma of child actors.
Somewhere in here is an important message about realising sacrifice and forgiveness if you cared to look for it. Otherwise, the film is a beautiful tale of mother and daughter finding love, both in each other and for themselves individually as they overcome loss.
Regretting You doesn’t have big revelations to set it apart from the romantic melodramas that raised a generation of heartsick millenials but it still has redeeming qualities beyond its likeable cast for audience to relish in the cheesiness of it all.
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