REGRETTING YOU – Review

Let’s see what happens when Hollywood “hits the books” for this new flick. We saw the adaptation of a work from the same author last year with IT ENDS WITH US (AKA the movie that spawned countless real-life legal “sequels”). So does this story from Colleen Hoover tread familiar territory? Well, it is a romance that has some pretty heavy dramatic elements, a rarity at the cinemas these days as the “rom-com” is more prevalent than the “rom-dram” (a phrase coined by a cast member promoting it on TV). And while the last Hoover work dealt with domestic abuse, this one has a big role for the “Grim Reaper”. So does he take his scythe to the young and not-that-young lovers coupling in REGRETTING YOU?

The first scene in the story is a seventeen-year flashback. Two high school aged couples (senior year) are on their way to a big beach blow-out. While stopping for snacks, Morgan (Allison Williams) tells Jonah (Dave Franco) that she’s pregnant by her beau Chris (Scott Eastwood). Jonah’s crushed as he’s had a secret crush on her, despite dating Morgan’s kid sister Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald). Flash forward to the present, as the now married Morgan and Chris host a birthday party at their home. Joining them are the also now married Jenny and Jonah, who have a little baby boy, Elijah. Missing from the festivities is now seventeen-year-old daughter Clara (Mckenna Grace), whose lateness is caused when she gives her classmate Miller (Mason Thames) a lift to the house he shares with his cranky but lovable ‘Gramps’ Hank (Clancy Brown). She finally arrives for the party and immediately begins discussing Miller with her adored Aunt Jenny (Miller’s already got a steady, so Jenny warns Clara about being “that girl”). All’s well until Morgan gets a call days later. Hubby Chris has been in a major auto accident. Heading into the hospital, she’s surprised to see Jonah already there. It turns out that Jenny was also in an accident. Then the double stunner: Chris and Jenny were in the same car and both perished. Clara is devastated and begins to rebel by sneaking out to meet the now girlfriend-free Miller. Morgan “shuts down” due to the death and betrayal bombshell. But she’s got to help Jonah with baby Elijah. Then he blurts out that the child has Chris’s smile. Do they tell Clara that her papa and Aunt Jenny were cheating, and, bigger yet, she has a half-brother? And will Morgan and Jonah finally act on their long-suppressed mutual attraction?

Okay, let’s start with the older (a bit) of the two romantic couples. After the two M3GAN flicks, Williams is in full maternal mode as the emotionally pummelled Morgan. We can see her wavering somewhat in her “laying down the law” rants to her Clara, hinting at her deep devotion to her child, which may undercut the big throw-downs. Williams real strength is in the halting exchanges with Jonah as she walks the delicate journey from widowhood. Franco takes on a more dramatic turn after being a comic MVP for the last decade or so. His furrowed brow under the big black framed eyeglasses (to age him a tad more) conveys his near collapse at the loss of his spouse and his need to step up as a single parent. As for those “twitter-pated” teens, Grace very gracefully tackles the role of a blossoming young adult about to dive into swoony passion. The youngest Ghostbuster balances Clara’s despair over her loss with simmering anger toward mom, which may jeopardize her new relationship with Miller, played by the very busy Thames (last week in BLACK PHONE 2 after being the live-action Hiccup this Summer). He’s easy going, affable, and strong-willed, particularly when he realizes that he may be a “pawn” in the Clara/Morgan “war”. Both of them are on the fast track to greater film stardom. Fitzgerald (so fantastic in STRANGE DARLING) and Eastwood put their considerable screen charisma to work as the doomed duo, Jenny and Chris. Happily some needed levity is provided by the always compelling Brown as ‘Gramps’ and the bubbly Sam Morelos as Clara’s BFF Lexi, who is “fixed- up” with the endearing nerdy Efren (Ethan Constanilla).

Trying to keep these convoluted plot threads untangled is director John Boone, best known for THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, though I’d say his THE NEW MUTANTS is a pretty good “B” superhero flick. He keeps the histrionics to a minium while all the story “plates” keep spinning, but there’s just so much he can do with the often turgid, soap-style structure. The old phrase “potboiler” comes to mind, though I often thought I was trapped in a basic cable TV-movie featuring a more polished ensemble (“star-wattage” can only brighten things a touch). Of the themes, the blossoming young love “plot line” works best, while the elders must flay about dealing with death and infidelity. One scene in which Morgan vents her anger at a car is most grating. The locales and fashions are lovely, though they were backdrops for blatant product placement (there’s always a “logo-fronted” soda can while Miller works for a multiplex where Nicole Kidman usually wanders about). At least it’s not as tone-deaf and thuddingly off-kilter as Hoover’s last big screen flick. There may be an audience for movies made from “beach-reads”, but rising stars like Grace and Thames deserve a much-better showcase for their talents than the regrettable REGRETTING YOU.

1.5 Out of 4

REGRETTING YOU is now playing in theaters everywhere