“Regretting You,” the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, serves up a heartfelt dose of romantic drama, tailor-made for viewers who crave emotion over critical acclaim.
Directed by Josh Boone and written by Susan McMartin, the film debuted Oct. 24 to a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes — but for fans of swoony stares, dramatic declarations of love and squeal-worthy scenes, it delivers the kind of melodrama that feels like a five-star experience.
With a cast led by Allison Williams as Morgan Grant and McKenna Grace as her daughter, Clara, the film makes a sincere effort to bring Hoover’s emotionally layered story to life.
Still, despite its heartfelt intentions, the adaptation often slips into the shallow end of the emotional depth and nuance found in its source material. The narrative leans into themes of heartbreak, resilience and the complexities of grief and betrayal.
The story opens in the late 2000s with a tight-knit group of high school friends: Morgan and her boyfriend Chris (Scott Eastwood), her sister Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald), and Jenny’s boyfriend Jonah (Dave Franco). They spend their days driving around their small town, blasting The Killers and dreaming about the future.
Personality-wise, the couples feel mismatched — Morgan and Jonah share a quiet emotional connection, while their partners are more extroverted. But when Morgan reveals she’s pregnant with Chris’s baby, Jonah buries his feelings and moves on.
Seventeen years later, that baby, Clara, is a teenager with college ambitions and a crush on her classmate Miller (Mason Thames). Morgan and Chris have settled into life as middle-aged parents, while Jonah and Jenny have reunited and started a family of their own.
But the illusion of stability shatters after a tragic car accident kills Chris and Jenny—and exposes their long-running affair. Morgan and Jonah are left to pick up the pieces, not just for themselves, but for Clara, who idolized them both.
Unlike many films about infidelity, which focus on the thrill of forbidden love, “Regretting You” explores the emotional wreckage left behind. The betrayal is compounded by grief, forcing the surviving characters to question everything.
Despite the weight of its premise, the film leans heavily into melodrama. McMartin’s adaptation and Tim Orr’s cinematography frame the story with glossy sentimentality: lots of yelling, dramatic exits and wine-soaked breakdowns in front of reality TV. The emotional stakes are high, but the execution often feels more soap opera than slow burn.
One arc follows the rekindled connection between Morgan and Jonah, both grieving and betrayed, as they rediscover their chemistry from high school. The other centers on Clara’s slow-burn romance with Miller, a relationship that hits all the classic high school love clichés—like something straight out of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin.”
He’s the brooding bad boy who loves film, carries unexpected emotional depth and loves his grandpa too. Clara, the good girl, just wants to get into drama school while coping with the loss of her father and aunt.
While both relationships offer moments of sincerity, the film’s structure struggles to give equal weight to each, leaving its emotional core underdeveloped. And that core, surprisingly, isn’t romance—it’s the bond between Morgan and Clara. Through every conflict, Morgan remains unwavering in her devotion to her daughter, making choices she never regrets.
When the story delivers its most dramatic twist —the car accident —the fallout feels rushed through. The emotional weight of this revelation is quickly overshadowed by a return to romantic subplots, making the transition feel abrupt and unearned.
Despite its strong casting and visual polish, “Regretting You” struggles with uneven pacing and an overly sentimental script. While the first act shows promise, establishing a strained mother-daughter dynamic and hinting at deeper emotional wounds, the narrative quickly slips into melodrama. Dialogue often feels stilted, and key emotional beats are undercut by heavy-handed direction and predictable plot turns.
For fans of Hoover’s work, the film may still resonate on an emotional level. But for others, “Regretting You” lands as a well-intentioned adaptation that lacks the nuance and complexity needed to elevate its story beyond the page.
As Hoover’s novels continue to find their way to the screen, “Regretting You” serves as a reminder of the challenges in translating emotionally rich plots into hard-hitting storytelling. While it may not satisfy viewers seeking narrative depth or subtlety, it offers just enough heartache, romance and glossy drama to keep devoted fans engaged.
For those willing to overlook its flaws, the film delivers a familiar comfort rooted in the kind of emotional release Hoover’s readers have come to expect.