- Date of Release: 23 October 2025
- Genre: Drama, Romance
- Language: English
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Regretting You
Introduction
There are certain films that seem so mediocre and pointless, that you often question their purpose – on what their motivation actually was. And the new English film Regretting You is the latest in that list. Based on a novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover (second in as many years after It Ends With Us), you would tend to garner some expectations with this one, that promised to be another emotional journey in a drama that were to rely on the dynamics of characters. But the emotions itself are so hollow that the two-hour duration of the film felt like an endless slogfest. It almost felt like a test match being played on a road of a wicket wherein neither teams are interested in going for a win – often blocking the ball just like your ex would from your life! It is the kind of the frivolous romantic drama movie that you feel would tear you up, but instead it makes you impatient and fridgety, even as you witness the characters sleepwalk through the narrative that offers very little beyond the standard trope of the genre. It is lame and lazy, both in the same breath.
Story & Screenplay
Adapted for the screen by Susan McMartin, Regretting You on the face of it seems like a complex tale on entangled relationships. For instance when you are first introduced to Morgan (Allison Williams), she is pregnant with a child with Chris (Scott Eastwood) whilst sharing a past with Jonah (Dave Franco), who continues to behold some feelings for Morgan while being married to her sister Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald). Chris finds Morgan boring for refusing to drink while being pregnant – a case in point that is reflective of the relationship that he shares with her. But the inter-tangling relationships find a destination seventeen years later, when a tragedy strikes, even while accounting for a fresh dynamic – Morgan’s daughter Clara (Mckenna Grace) who is infactuated to her classmate Miller (Mason Thames).
The idea of intertwining relationships may be fine but you can’t help but think that the emotions are flat, and the characterization is compromised. For instance, you are never really invested in the dynamic between Morgan and Jonah because you don’t really get a glimpse of their past, apart from a dialogue exchange that reveals their previous dynamic. This would have worked if the story wasn’t positioned around two of these characters following an accident that would change the family dynamics forever. It is a twin tragedy in a way – one that is physical, and the other that occurs in the aftermath – but because the foundation was just not present, it is hard to root for the characters or their shifting dynamics that supposedly triggers a bout of complexity with Morgan’s own daughter – Clara.
On the other hand, I couldn’t help but think on how one-dimensional the characters of Clara and Miller are too. Yes, the frivolous nature of the generation is accurate captured even as Clara is flustered of Miller unfollowing her on social media, hours after following her too. But outside that, their dynamic remains woefully one-dimensional – almost resembling a switch that would turn on and off at the click of the finger. In many ways, Miller can be viewed as an emotional anchor for Clara, even during moments of turmoil that the latter has with her mother, a sort of a strained relation that offers no backstory. Everything is meant to be assumed, and everything is meant to be hollow – just like the narrative.
The central conflict is of Clara being in the dark about her late father and ‘bestie’ aunt having an affair, probably resulting in an illegitimate child that now is Jonah’s responsibility. But this conflict never really graduates into something substantial. There is a lot of buildup but the payoff is so simplistic, that I literally sat there facepalming and wondering on the purpose of the film. Yes in between, the humour does marginally seep through in an unexpected manner resulting in a few chuckles – along with some mushy scenes that atleast have their emotions in place. But outside that, I was fidgety and frustrated, something that accurately sums up the screenplay here.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are corny, never really designed to seep deeper with the emotional core of the drama while continuing to be superficial. The BGM is adequate but forgettable, failing to evoke any sentiments in me for the characters onscreen. The cinematography captures the countryside effectively, but often keeps you at a distance from the emotional core of its characters. The editing pattern just doesn’t account for the lags in the narrative, something that bogs down the narrative (and your patience too). As a result, this was nothing short of a snoozefest that just did not make me feel anything, besides my standard doses of yawning. Director Josh Boone just doesn’t do much to evoke the sentiments erupting from the complex dynamics in play. The narrative style is mechanical and pretty flat with no means of world building, and some cardboard cutout characters that fail to impress. The direction is pretty weak thereby resulting in a drama that is as flat as a pancake.
Performances
The performances are pretty basic too, wherein there are no standout performances. While the likes of Ethan Constanilla as Efren and Sam Morelos as Lexie offer some moments of laughter, Scott Eastwood as Chris and Willa Fitzgerald as Jenny have hardly anything to do. Mckenna Grace as Clara and Mason Thames as Miller are such one-dimensional characters that don’t really rise above the written material. Dave Franco as Jonah is sincere and earnest but his character is woefully underwritten. Allison Williams as Morgan shows some restraint, but the emotions and the vulnerability of her character just don’t come through here. In that regard, her performance was inconsistent, even as I pondered on the casting choice that didn’t quite account for the minimal age gap of the characters – something was also felt distracting.
Conclusion
Regretting You is a lame snoozefest that I literally regretted watching. The emotions don’t come through, the characters are one-dimensional (despite a potentially complex conflict in play), and the drama consistently remains bland here, thereby making this a forgettable watch. Available in a theatre near you.