Regretting You Is Absolutely Psychotic

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I haven’t experienced Colleen Hoover’s writing, so her books might be as over-the-top as the new movie, Regretting You, which is based on her 2019 novel. However, I think the film’s craziness comes more from the filmmakers and the actors, especially Allison Williams. She’s quickly becoming known for her brilliantly deadpan performances. Williams has a unique way of showing agitation – her intense stare is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Her eyes seem to float, separate from the rest of her face, which is both striking and funny. It’s truly incredible how little she needs to do to make a scene comedic, and she clearly knows it. (Her performance in M3gan was similar.) She’s fantastic and deserves to be in every movie!

“Regretting You” doesn’t offer any big surprises, even though it feels like it might. The film starts around 2006, with a group of high school friends who clearly don’t all fit together. Morgan is dating Chris, but Jonah is in love with her, even though he’s with Morgan’s sister, Jenny. Morgan and Jonah prefer to avoid drinking and spend a lot of time together, while Jenny and Chris are the life of the party. However, Morgan is pregnant, which seems to lock her future with Chris. (The story is set in a small North Carolina town where everyone knows everyone, and teenage lives feel predetermined.) The film then jumps ahead 17 years. Morgan and Chris are still together, and their daughter, Clara, is now a high school senior. Jonah and Jenny are married with a new baby – though their high school romance didn’t last, as Jonah suddenly left town shortly after the beginning of the film, but he’s now returned. Everything appears perfect, but of course, it isn’t.

The story kicks off with a tragic car accident that kills Chris and Jenny, and soon after, their husbands, Morgan and Jonah, discover the two were having an affair. You might expect this to open the door for Morgan and Jonah to finally explore their own feelings for each other, but the film takes a surprising turn. Instead of grief, Morgan unexpectedly spirals, becoming obsessed with reality TV and wine, and starts neglecting the childhood home she shared with Chris, much to the distress of her daughter, Clara, who adored both her parents. Clara even blames herself for the accident, believing a text message she sent to Jenny distracted her while driving. However, she doesn’t know the shocking truth: Chris was actually the one driving Jenny’s car. One of the film’s most striking features is how it portrays texting – words appear on screen as characters speak their messages in voiceover while calmly typing on their phones.

I enjoy some Nicholas Sparks movies, but I’m probably not the target viewer for this one. The audience at the premiere clapped when the main characters finally kissed – though it was almost lost in the sound of someone snoring nearby. The applause felt more like a routine reaction than genuine excitement. These stories aren’t about unexpected twists; their charm lies in knowing the couple will end up together, and simply anticipating that moment.

The story of Regretting You could actually make for a compelling melodrama, but the movie itself feels less like a dramatic thriller and more like a drawn-out exploration of raw feelings. However, the way this film portrays those emotions felt strangely unreal. Combined with Williams’s very flat delivery, Franco’s consistently dry performance adds to the oddness, making his lines sound monotonous. Both actors seem to be trying to suppress the intense emotions in the script – which is what actors often do – but it doesn’t quite land. This is especially true when compared to Grace’s performance, which is incredibly emotional and over-the-top.

Honestly, watching this film, I was so confused about the humor. Was it supposed to be funny? It reminded me a bit of those small, painful moments in films like Manchester by the Sea – unexpectedly awkward amidst real grief. But here, everything felt…planned. It felt so over-the-top that it just became silly. I get intellectually that the director was trying to contrast Clara’s energy with Jonah and Morgan’s coldness, but it needed a more subtle touch. Instead, it felt like we were inside the head of someone who doesn’t really get people or emotions. The director, Josh Boone, would cut to these goofy montages right after genuinely sad scenes, and film emotional climaxes in an AMC lobby – and light them like an AMC commercial, you know, that bland, flat, yet strangely harsh look. People were cracking one-liners at funerals! Clancy Brown showed up as the dying grandpa who just wanted to tell jokes. I kept wondering if the filmmakers were deliberately trying to make a point by undermining the drama, or if they just didn’t know how to handle the serious stuff. Maybe I was reading too much into it. But my audience wasn’t looking for depth – they cheered during the kissing scenes and laughed at all the wrong moments. They wanted a fun time, and, well, they definitely got that.

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2025-10-24 23:55