'Regretting You' Review: Mason Thames & Mckenna Grace Carry Colleen Hoover's New Movie

'Regretting You' is surprisingly light, despite its deeper content.

Despite the darkness of the plot, the movie is colorful, bright, and engaging. The airy visuals feels romantic in and of themselves, and immediately suck you in. Plus, more than one moment had me laughing out loud. After Clara is too overwhelmed to stay at the funeral, she escapes to smoke weed with Miller (Mason Thames), the bad boy she's crushing on. Needless to say, Morgan is not pleased, and the exchange that follows is a standout scene that brightens the whole film. Plus, Miller always has a lollipop in his mouth, which left me reminiscing on The Fault in Our Stars and Gus' unlit cigarette.

Everything from Regretting You's set design to the color grade to the costumes provide visual levity, which means the cast carries the weight of translating the grief of the story. And they definitely deliver.

The 'Regretting You' cast is the best part of the film (besides the music).

Actors Mckenna Grace, Allison Williams, and Dave Franco (Jonah) showcase grief in all its surprising, messy glory as they deal with the fallout of Jenny and Chris' accident. But they also showcase everything from love and lust to anger and yearning as they deal with their own issues (more on that in a moment). The real standouts for me are Mason Thames and Mckenna Grace. I've been watching Mckenna for over a decade, and I love seeing her step into a more substantial leading role. She's got the chops!

Another small detail I loved about the movie is the soundtrack — and how timely the song choices were. Mckenna Grace actually revealed the movie was made in 6 months, so I was thrilled to hear songs that I recently became obsessed with alongside tunes I've loved for years. It's a tiny detail, but it's one that I can't get enough of.

The movie has a very strong first act that establishes the characters' personalities, their relationships to one another, and their plans for the future. Clara and Miller both dream of making it in Hollywood even if they feel stuck in their hometown, and Miller carries his dad's reputation and the responsibility of carrying for his grandfather. Jonah has to get used to life as a single father, while trying to mend fences with Morgan, who seems to struggle to forgive him for past wrongs.

But the script is lacking.

Despite its strong beginning, the movie tapers off as it tries to accomplish too many things during its run: Jonah and Morgan unearth a major secret while dealing with Jenny and Chris' accident, Morgan decides to remodel the entire house, and Clara starts her own personal rebellion, all while tension grows between Jonah and Morgan. Regretting You would have benefitted from cutting back on the plot (or entirely cutting out the remodel) and giving the characters space to breathe.

I can already tell teen audiences will love Clara and Miller's relationship (especially because no one can get enough of the relationship between Mckenna and Mason), and their goofy high school antics are sure to give the next generation of romance movie lovers something to swoon over. It's simply a right of passage!

Overall, we give 'Regretting You' a 3 out of 5 rating.

Amid the mess, Regretting You centers admirable qualities like honesty, forgiveness, and communication. The actors have great chemistry, and there's more than one funny moment. But the script is too divided between subplots, and isn't a strong enough foundation for the performances to build upon, meaning the actors are left to carry the film. Regrettably, I give it 3 out of 5 stars.