“Regretting You” takes the cake for half-baked plots and cringey one-liners. Photo courtesy of ​​​ScreenRant. 

MADDY BRODERICK | CULTURE EDITOR | mbroderick@butler.edu

“Film Fanatics” explores Hollywood’s recent releases, cherished classics and everything in between. These thought-provoking reviews invite fresh perspectives and weigh whether a film deserves attention — or if it’s best left in the past. Read on to find out what our writers think of this week’s film. 

In the wake of Colleen Hoover’s meteoric rise — and her associated controversies — “Regretting You” arrived on screens with premature but understandable skepticism. Directed by Josh Boone and adapted from Hoover’s best-selling novel of the same name, the film tackles complex themes of grief, romance, betrayal and generational tension, but does not handle them in a way that feels coherent or fully developed to viewers. 

While the film has a lengthy run time of one hour 56 minutes, there still remains a lack of nuance or character development. However, cast members manage to integrate sincerity into even the most overwrought scenes, salvaging moments that may have otherwise collapsed under the script’s melodramatic excess. 

Junior criminology and psychology combined major Kaelyn Hart was thrown by the short time span in which the film’s events occurred. 

“[The main characters’] relationship was within two weeks,” Hart said. “I would say [that] was a very typical Colleen Hoover move.”

“Regretting You” opens as a flashback to 17 years before the film’s current day. Teenaged Morgan — played by Allison Williams — her boyfriend, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, Jonah — played by Dave Franco — are a tight-knit friend group preparing to graduate high school. 

Morgan and Jonah, though not a couple, seem more spiritually aligned than their extroverted partners. When Morgan reveals the unexpected news that she is pregnant, Jonah’s unspoken feelings are buried, and the group’s dynamic shifts. This opening scene is brief and briskly edited, rushing through emotionally tangled relationships before fast-forwarding into the present day. 

Nearly two decades later, Morgan is now a tightly-wound helicopter parent trying to keep her daughter, Clara — played by Mckenna Grace — on the straight and narrow. Clara, meanwhile, is more interested in acting auditions and her classmate Miller — played by Mason Thames — regardless of the fact that he is in a relationship, and whose floppy hair and brooding stares seem perfectly engineered for TikTok thirst edits. 

Sophomore economics major Frankie Ponzio said that before she knew “Regretting You” was based on a Colleen Hoover movie, she was excited to see Grace star in a new film. 

“I love Mckenna Grace so much, but I hate Colleen so much more,” Ponzio said. “Personally, she is not a creator I ever want to support.”

The two storylines — Morgan’s unraveling marriage and Clara’s budding romance — run parallel, but the film barely gives either enough space to develop. Emotional revelations are delivered rapidly, often without the buildup needed to make them land. 

Where the story falters, the actors do their best to keep the film emotionally anchored. Williams brings a brittle intensity to Morgan, while Grace and Thames manage to authentically portray the teenage romance experience. Their chemistry is one of the few elements that feels earned. 

“Regretting You” differed from Hoover’s previous movie adaptation of “It Ends with Us” in that it had less extensive and high-profile marketing. While both are based on Colleen Hoover books, “It Ends with Us” featured a major studio production with celebrity endorsements and marketing campaigns. “Regretting You”, on the other hand, had a less impactful release with more subtle marketing. 

Hart believes this was done on purpose.

“I think in [this] case, they tried to pull away from Hoover by emphasizing the actors more and emphasizing the story rather than the author,” Hart said. “With ‘It Ends with Us’, they made sure everybody knew it was [by] Colleen Hoover because she didn’t have controversy back then.” 

Sophomore English major Chelsea Copeland had similar thoughts and did not realize that “Regretting You” was based on a Colleen Hoover book until the film began.

“I think having her plastered right at the beginning of the movie was their way of saying, ‘Haha, got you,’” Copeland said. “I don’t think she deserves as much credit as she’s getting. I think the movie was good, but it is [based on a book by] Colleen Hoover, so I’m not gonna say that. That’s the only problem I have with it.”

While some were willing to look past Hoover’s controversies for the sake of the film, others refused to spend money on a project attached to her name. 

Ponzio in particular expressed her deep hatred for Hoover and explained why she was not going to watch “Regretting You”.

“I’m surprised they let another movie go into production, because I feel like the drama surrounding [‘It Ends with Us’] was so huge,” Ponzio said. “I’m sure that, from a mere business standpoint, all that drama probably brought in so much money for the movie.”

While box office performances earned a whopping $13 million in the weekend of its release, ticket purchases starkly decreased by 43% the following week. Rotten Tomatoes estimated that the film is on track to make $35-40 million.

While Hoover’s books may not have been well-received, not much can be said for the movie adaptations either. “Regretting You” is a cinematic experience that one will not regret missing out on. 

“Regretting You” is playing now in theaters nationwide.