Regretting You

Grade: C

Regretting You takes a handful of talented, prolific, attractive actors and has them follow the template of a 1990s show from the WB network, or the soap operatic novel it’s based on. Its source material comes from Colleen Hoover, who wrote It Ends With Us – and it’s directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars). I know exactly what could have made it better. There are glimpses of an interesting premise, but it quickly settles in to autopilot and cliches. The actors are helpless and just along for the ride.

The plot is an unconventional extended family brought together by coincidences. The trailer adds a couple of lines not in the movie, to help with clarification. Since trailers are only a couple of minutes long, I don’t blame you if you’re still confused. I’ve seen it, and I had to consult some plot summaries and cast lists online to keep names and relationships straight. Here we go. Chris (Scott Eastwood) and Jonah (Dave Franco) are best friends. Chris marries Morgan (Allison Williams, from Get Out and the M3GAN films), and they have a daughter, Clara, quite young. In the “present day” scenes, 17-year old Clara is played by Mckenna Grace (Phoebe Spengler from the recent Ghostbusters movies). Jonah is partnered up with Morgan’s sister Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald, from Strange Darling). They have a baby (a smiley blue-eyed boy who steals the movie). Chris and Jenny die unexpectedly at the same time, in the same car. They were having an affair together.

Right off the bat, I had a problem. They killed off the two most interesting characters. When they were onscreen, they added texture – Chris especially. He’s frequently nursing a beer, and pressing Morgan to have an alcoholic beverage as well, so that he’s not the only one. That’s something worth exploring right there, but unfortunately, the plot machinery takes over and we get the deaths, followed by the realization that Jonah and Morgan have always had feelings for each other.

I haven’t even touched on Clara’s classmate and prospective boyfriend Miller (Mason Thames, from How to Train Your Dragon and the Black Phone movies), who doesn’t seem to have much regard or sense of occasion when it comes to the grieving that’s been happening. Then again, neither does Clara (who just lost her dad and aunt), Morgan (who just lost her husband and sister), and Jonah (who just lost his fiancée and best friend). They are all thinking about their current romances, in the midst of some glaring product placement for AMC Theaters. Heartbreak does feel good in a place like that. 

The cast is made up of some pretty people who are currently having some serious career momentum, but they are at the mercy of the material. The great Clancy Brown shows up too, as Miller’s endearingly curmudgeonly grandfather. The final sequence is a backyard get-together with all the main living characters. They are already okay with each other, with what’s going on, and with what the tragedy revealed to them. It’s a screening of a homemade short movie made by Miller, Fabelmans style. It takes place four months after the main action. There’s a crib, to let us know the baby is still around – but we don’t see him, as it would have taken effort to find and cast a slightly older baby. Regretting You really is as schmaltzy and tone-deaf as the advertisements make it look. If you see it, I bet you’ll re-…no, too easy. Not gonna end the review like that.

Grade: C