Colleen Hoover takes another jab at the big screen in the adaptation of her book “Regretting You.”
In recent years, Hoover has become controversial among book lovers. The author has received criticism over the fact that her books contain excessive sexualization of characters. As well as this, her books tend to glorify sensitive topics like domestic violence, topics that are considered by some to be too mature for her teenage audiences.
The controversy continued when Hoover made her first on-screen adaptation of her book “It Ends With Us,” which hit the box office Aug. 9, 2024. This time, the scandal surrounding the film was not strictly about Hoover and her work, but the feud between the two leads over a lawsuit Blake Lively filed against her co-star Justin Baldoni in December 2024.
“Regretting You,” which hit theaters Oct. 24, 2025, is more light-hearted and an easier watch than Hoover’s debut film. And, so far, I don’t see any major scandals breaking out amongst this film’s cast, so a win is a win.
But despite a runtime filled with tragedy, heartbreak, romance and comedy, “Regretting You” was overwhelming.
The film jumped from funerals to funny one-liners, to yelling fights to kissing to crying, all within 10 minutes. It was too much to take in. While I saw a lot of potential in this movie, the pileup of different themes ultimately made the plot messy and hard to follow.
I was honestly surprised when I found out that Josh Boone, the director of “The Fault in Our Stars,” a movie that made almost everyone cry in 2014, also directed this. I understand that turning books into movies can be difficult and is often heavily criticized — book fans don’t hold back; I have seen their movie reviews. Not even the best actors in the world could have made this movie good.
As Mike McGranaghan, a writer for The Aisle Seat, said, “The movie doesn’t need a director, it needs a traffic cop.”
I personally did not read the book, but while watching the movie, it felt like I was just watching highlights of the book instead of actually being taken through the story.
The movie centers on the relationship between Clara Grant (Mckenna Grace) and her mother, Morgan Grant (Allison Williams). The mother and daughter are hit with tragedy when Clara’s dad, Chris (Scott Eastwood), and Aunt Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald) both die in a car accident. After the incident, Morgan and Jenny’s boyfriend, Jonah Sullivan (Dave Franco), begin to question why her husband and her sister were in the car together in the first place.
The beginning of this plot point felt very out of place to me.
Bringing up a question like that right after they found out their loved ones had died made the momentum of that powerful scene stop short as they jumped right into the next tragedy.
Jonah and Morgan quickly discover that Chris and Jenny were having an affair for years before their deaths. While Morgan wants to keep this a secret to protect Clara, the incident forces Clara and her mom to drift apart.
While Jonah and Morgan try to cope with their grief, they end up finding love along the way. Clara also finds love when she falls for Miller Adams (Mason Thames), a boy from school.
The chemistry and tension between Clara and Morgan are a huge part of the story. However, the chemistry on screen between the two felt off.
I like Williams as an actress, but in this role, it felt she lacked the emotion her character needed to come off as a grieving, heartbroken and angry mother.
For example, during Chris’s funeral, Clara sneaks off with Miller and they hang out in a random parking lot. Morgan finds them and yells at Clara to get out of Miller’s car. In this scene, Williams’ attempts at being stern came off as funny on screen. While it kind of worked for that scene specifically, that same tone was shown throughout the movie, making it hard to take her seriously. This made Morgan and Clara’s “struggling relationship” all the more unbelievable.
One thing I appreciated was the relationship between Morgan and Jonah, which was a slow burn throughout the film.
I enjoyed the idea of their relationship, but I didn’t buy the chemistry on screen between Franco and Williams. It felt like there was no romance between the two. The relationship seemed very forced throughout the whole movie, and it looked like Williams and Franco were uncomfortable being that intimate with each other.
On the opposite side of things, Clara and Miller’s relationship was like a breath of fresh air. Though it was cringy at times — something that’s in almost every rom-com — Grace and Thames’ chemistry shone through their characters in every aspect of the movie. From their big fight after Clara’s birthday dinner to the iconic scene from the trailers when Clara jumps into Miller’s arms in the movie theater. I bought it all.
Although I enjoyed watching the relationship between Clara and Miller, the chemistry of one couple cannot save an entire film. Unfortunately, this movie was a waste of potential. This leaves me with the question: Are re-dos a thing in Hollywood?
