*spoilers*
“Regretting You” is the latest of the Colleen Hoover book-to-movie adaptations, starring Mckenna Grace (Clara Grant), Allison Williams (Morgan Grant), Mason Theves (Miller Adams) and Dave Franco (Jonah Sullivan) in a plot-twisting romantic comedy.
The movie itself is not like the previous Hoover movies in that this is a lot more mellow and more of the beginning phases of a relationship. The movie is less of a romance and more a story about the fragile bond between a mother and daughter coping with grief.
The film preserves the novel’s dual-perspective narrative, allowing viewers to experience the perspectives from both Clara and her mom, Morgan. After a sudden accident brings immense grief in the family, the relationship between mother and daughter is destroyed. Morgan becomes an overprotective mother who follows Clara’s every move as she falls for her classmate, Miller.
Cara continues sneaking around, going behind her mom’s back while simultaneously overcoming immense grief and navigating a world without the two prominent figures she once had.
The movie itself is really well done; you can tell when watching that the actors cared about the show they were putting on. The storyline was easy to follow, and, as a high school student, I found it very relatable. The producers used music that has been released recently or is well-known to teenagers and young adults, furthering the sense of connection between the storyline and the viewer.
However, throughout the movie, there were mentions of prom several times. Whether that would be some sort of cheesy promposal, a milestone in their relationship or the overall excitement surrounding going to a high school dance as a couple.
What confused me, though, was the fact that the movie ended before they had gotten to prom. It felt as if the story was left without the story ending, sparking the idea that there could be a sequel in the future.
It is weird to prominently mention an event within a movie but not include it in some fashion. It gave the feeling that the movie should have been longer, despite it standing for an hour and 56 minutes, it felt like aspects of the movie were missing and they cut it short.
The movie follows the book’s core plot but condenses a lot of the character and emotional development. The tone of the book compared to the movie was sometimes inconsistent. They tried toblend heavy drama with moments of humor, which sometimes did not translate as well as they may have thought; it makes moments awkward as well as understated compared to other scenes.
I wish that Hoover and her team would have advocated to ensure a longer movie where emotional and character development is shown to provide a smoother translation between book and movie.
Overall, the movie was a good melodramatic romantic comedy that was made for younger audiences. There were moments of laughter, judgement and tears that summarize much of what it is like to be a high schooler. I would go back to watch it again and I hope that it goes to streaming services in the future.
