Regretting You (2025) [Movie Review]: A Soapy CoHo Adaptation That Misses the Mark

Josh Boone’s Regretting You, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel with a screenplay by Susan McMartin, stakes itself on grief, adultery, and complicated family ties. The film follows Morgan (Allison Williams), her teen daughter Clara (McKenna Grace), and a tangle of past romances and secrets that are supposed to explode into emotional truth. Ambition is clear, but the movie rarely finds the tonal balance needed to make its bigger moments feel earned.

Direction & Screenwriting

Patchwork tone, thin connective tissue

Boone, who has worked in romantic drama before, attempts to blend tearjerker beats with small-town charm and occasional comic relief. The screenplay shuffles between timelines and emotional registers without smoothing transitions, producing a lurching rhythm that undercuts tension. Key plot pivots — infidelity revelations, sudden deaths, and impulsive teenage choices — arrive with insufficient grounding, so the audience is asked to react to grief and betrayal without being given full access to the inner lives that would explain those reactions.

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Performances

Strong actors, inconsistent material

Allison Williams is arguably wasted in a role that asks her to be many things—mother, architect, wronged wife—without always supplying motives. She has moments of genuine ferocity, notably a cathartic scene of rage, but too often the script keeps her at the surface. McKenna Grace is a sympathetic presence; her emotional beats register more convincingly, particularly in scenes that require confusing mixes of adolescent heartbreak and shock. Dave Franco, Scott Eastwood, Mason Thames, and Willa Fitzgerald cycle through familiar archetypes, but chemistry is patchy, and several adult actors struggle to inhabit teenage flashbacks credibly.

Technicals: Look, Pace & Sound

Polished visuals, uneven pacing

The film looks and sounds like a high-end streaming drama—clean production design, glossy cinematography, and a soundtrack that aims for mood-setting rather than distinctiveness. At two hours, however, the pacing saps urgency: tender character moments compete with implausible plot machinations, leaving the picture feeling longer than its emotional payoffs justify.

Themes & Shortcomings

Grief and desire, treated superficially

Regretting You gestures toward weighty themes—how secrets ripple through families, the messy moral calculus of adult relationships—but rarely interrogates them. Moments that could probe consent, culpability, or the ethics of rebound romance are skimmed over, producing a movie that flirts with depth but prefers tidy resolutions and manufactured poignancy.

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Verdict

A watchable but forgettable melodrama

If you enjoy glossy, CoHo-style romantic dramas and are content with familiar plot mechanics and intermittent emotional highs, Regretting You will deliver a few affecting scenes. For viewers hoping for the grounded intensity and chemistry that made previous adaptations land, this one feels like a diluted echo. Talented cast and production polish can’t fully mask a script that wants to do more than it actually explores. Recommended only for devoted fans of the genre or the author; others should temper expectations.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)