A One Mann’s Movies review of “Regretting You” (2025, 3*, 15).
“Regretting You” is a right old potboiler of a melodrama based on the bestselling book by Colleen Rooney. It wasn’t the sort of film that was ever going to rock my personal world, but from the positive murmurs around my – pretty well-attended – matinee performance, it seemed to go down pretty well.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
(OK… stay with me on this one).
Morgan (Allison Williams) and Chris (Scott Eastwood) met as high-school and had a shotgun marriage thanks to the arrival of Clara. But in high-school Jonah Sullivan was madly in love with Morgan but going out with Morgan’s sister Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald).
Wind forwards 17 years and Morgan and Chris are married, Jonah and Jenny are newly married but with a new baby and 16 year-old Clara (Mckenna Grace) has the hots for high-school hottie Miller Adams (Mason Thames). But then a car-crash involving Chris and Jenny reveals an affair that rapidly unravels all of their lives.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Infrequent strong language, moderate sex, drug misuse.” Note for parents: the sex in here is well-described as “moderate” with at one point a deflowering (without explicit nudity) but which I would say pushes it towards the top end of the 12-15 band.)
Talent:
Starring: Allison Williams, Mckenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Thames, Scott Eastwood, Willa Fitzgerald, Clancy Brown, Sam Morelos, Ethan Costanilla, William Burnham Simmons, Ryan Conner Simmons.
Directed by: Josh Boone.
Written by: Susan McMartin. (Based on the book by Colleen Hoover.)
Running Time: 1h 56m.
Summary:
Positives:
- It’s a well-crafted melodrama with love, death and intrigue.
- Allison Williams and Mckenna Grace both impress.
Negatives:
- There are points in the film where characters really don’t ask enough questions!
- Some of the acting is a bit wooden.
- The overall story arc is very much predictable.
Full Review of “Regretting You”:
Love, Death and Diapers.
This probably goes to Colleen Hoover’s original source material, but the convoluted story is nicely crafted, albeit 100% predictable about where it will end up.
There are two romances running in parallel here.
The teenage romance between Clara (McKenna Grace… Phoebe in the “Ghostbusters” reboots) and Miller (Mason Thames, Finn in “The Black Phone” and Hiccup in “How to Train Your Dragon“) is neatly done in a “oh, how sweet young love is” sort of way. Miller is painted somewhat over the top in terms of the caring and sharing teen from a rough background. McKenna Grace in particular has most of the heavy ‘grieving acting’ to do and she does it impressively well.
The obvious other romance is between the two grieving spouses who still have unrequited feelings for each other. This is helped by some great acting from Allison Williams (who looks more like the attractive woman she is than she did in “M3GAN 2.0“!) and hindered by some very wooden acting from Dave Franco. There’s a flashback scene to a moment in a pool where their legs entwine and their eyes lock when it looks like Franco has just shat himself and that pool is going to need a deep clean!
Teenage girls!
The film also focuses on the fraught relationship between mother Morgan and daughter Clara. The two get to bicker pretty continually and that’s before the over-protective Morgan reveals the secrets that she has been keeping from Clara. Yeah… it’s OK, but we’ve had this sort of dynamic in so many countless films before.
Questions that should have been asked but weren’t!
(This section is a tad spoilery, so if you’ve not seen the film you might want to skip over it!)
There are a few bat-shit crazy leaps of illogic in this that made me go “Wait…. what?”.
In the first instance it is found that Chris and Jenny have been driving in the car together. Jonah immediately puts two and two together (and correctly makes four) by realising that they were having an affair and although not wanting to admit it to herself, Morgan is right there with him. But Clara seems completely clueless! Her father and her aunt both die in a car crash. “Hey mom, did they die in two different car crashes?”. “No dear, they were in the same car.” “Oh, ok then”.
Like WTF? Wouldn’t you ask, “what were they doing in the same car?” Wouldn’t you question who was driving the car? (Clara feels responsible since she was texting Jenny at the moment it happened.) Why hasn’t she asked all of these questions?!
In another instance, Jonah dumps his baby son with Morgan, distraught that his son just smiled and “has Chris’s smile”. Jonah is now adamant that the baby isn’t his! FROM A SMILE!!! Morgan doesn’t question that! Where is her speech along the lines of “Oh, Jonah, shut the fuck up you drama queen. Of course it’s your baby. Tomorrow, first thing, we’ll head to the medical centre and get a DNA test done”!?
Elijah is so cute!
A final attaboy to the babies who played the part of Elijah – presumably twins, William Burnham Simmons and Ryan Conner Simmons. They had scene-stealing degrees of cuteness on camera.
Summary Thoughts:
It’s a convoluted and melodramatic romantic weepie that does what it says on the tin and little more. If this is your sort of thing, then I reckon you will enjoy yourself with it, provided you ignore some of the rough edges of the script.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qub8lZlVlho.
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