I did not have high expectations for “Regretting You,” a film adaptation of a novel written by Colleen Hoover, and it is safe to say that I was correct. Clara Grant, played by McKenna Grace, is a high school senior in a small town who, shockingly, wants to go to acting school. However, the film centers around a fatal car accident in which her father, Chris, played by Scott Eastwood, and her aunt, Jenny, played by Willa Fitzgerald, are killed.
As Clara, her mother, played by Allison Williams, and Jonah, Clara’s Uncle and husband of Jenny, played by Dave Franco, are trying to process the death of their loved ones, Jenny and Chris’s secret affair comes into the light, which sends the family’s relationship into a spiral. And, in Clara’s fragile state, obviously, her first move is to spark a relationship with classmate Miller Adams, played by Mason Thames.
At first, I was intrigued with the plot, considering the movie’s most climactic moment was in the first 10 minutes, but soon after, the scenes went by slower and slower. Moreover, the writers try to frame Chris and Jenny’s affair as immoral but fail to address the other unethical circumstances that sparked Clara and Miller’s relationship, as well as Jonah and Morgan’s connection.
One of my biggest issues is that, due to lazy writing, nothing is resolved, and viewers are left with unanswered questions. In fact, the majority of “Regretting You” is just plain lazy. In a flashback scene, they didn’t even bother to find younger actors to play the past versions of the adults and settled for some extra makeup instead. Although I am a firm believer that not every movie has to be a ground-breaking masterpiece, there are at least 50 other films you could watch that would still not be as mediocre and dull as “Regretting You”.
Quite frankly, I was very disappointed by the performances of Franco and Williams. Their dialogue felt forced and inauthentic, as if they were reading off of a teleprompter. Although Thames and Grace seemed to have good chemistry, nothing could save the cliche and awkward script. As with most modern high school romance movies, the writers, who seemingly have never met a teenager in their lives, are unable to create funny and realistic banter.
By the end of the movie, the audience is left with a predictable, surface-level drama and, ironically, an immense feeling of regret.