What is it about?
Following an unexpected tragedy, Morgan (Allison Williams) and her teenage daughter Clara (Mckenna Grace) are left grappling with grief, resentment, and secrets that threaten to pull them further apart. As Clara begins a tentative romance and Morgan reconnects with an old flame (Dave Franco), their strained relationship teeters between collapse and reconciliation.
What did we think?
Rosie Elmers says: Regretting You is by no means a perfect film, but that is part of what makes it so endearing. It’s clean, simple, and comforting, like a warm meal you’ve had a hundred times and still crave on a tired Sunday night. It doesn’t reinvent the romantic drama, nor does it pretend to. Instead, it reclaims a genre that’s been quietly edged out by the streaming era. It’s good to see a film like this back in cinemas, something you’d expect to stumble across on Netflix but that feels better on the big screen.
Yes, it’s silly. Yes, it falls into familiar tropes: the teary confessions, the montages, the inevitable miscommunication that resolves in the final act. But that’s the joy of it! The sincerity of the performances, especially from Mckenna Grace, keeps it grounded, even when the dialogue flirts with cliche. There is an unexpected comfort in a film that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t apologise for it.
Still, Regretting You isn’t without its flaws. At times, the script feels like it’s checking boxes rather than building tension. Every argument arrives right on cue, every reconciliation follows neatly after a rainstorm or a wistful montage, and the dialogue can veer toward the overly sentimental. Even the pacing wobbles in places, dragging where it should move and rushing where it should linger. It’s not enough to undo the film’s charm, but it does remind you that comfort cinema can sometimes slip into complacency.
It may not be the film of the year but it’s the kind you’ll remember fondly months later, certainly not for its perfection but maybe just for its sweet nothings.
