Film Review: REGRETTING YOU (2025): A Touching and Funny Story Equally Made for Younger and Older Viewers

Regretting You Review

Regretting You (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Josh Boone, written by Susan McMartin and Colleen Hoover and starring Allison Williams, Mckenna Grace, Mason Thames, Dave Franco, Scott Eastwood, Willa Fitzgerald, Clancy Brown, Sam Morelos, Ethan Constanilla, Luke Pierre Roness, Alicia Cuthbertson, Marcelle LeBlanc, Kurt Yue, Aubrey Brockwell and Hasani Vibez Comer.

Regretting You, directed by filmmaker Josh Boone, is the type of enjoyable romance movie that could keep teens hopeful about life while inspiring their parents at the same time. Ultimately, the movie works better for the younger crowd, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its charms for viewers over 25. That particular audience will be won over by the fact that the movie wears its heart on its sleeve, and in the end, the film leaves the viewer feeling great.

Allison Williams stars in the film as a girl named Morgan Grant who has a connection with a young guy named Jonah Sullivan (Dave Franco). They’re promised to other people even though we know they’re perfect for one another from the very first scene they appear together in the movie. Boone’s picture digresses from the obvious as some time passes and some traumatic situations that drive the plot take flight, namely the fact that Morgan and Jonah’s significant others, Chris and Jenny (Scott Eastwood and Willa Fitzgerald), are having an affair and end up getting into an accident. As a result, they prematurely die. Although this provides a dramatic outset for the story line, the movie takes a somewhat lighter turn about midway through.

Morgan has a teenage daughter named Clara (Mckenna Grace, never better). Clara likes a cute young guy called Miller Adams (Mason Thames) who has a sick grampa (a fine Clancy Brown). Clara and Miller have a cute meet-up when she pulls over her car to help him move a traffic sign and eventually gives him a lift. One of Clara’s shoes gets damaged, so Miller gives her ten dollars to cover the expense of her footwear.

Clara and Miller have an undeniable connection, and they see movies such as Clueless together while he has plenty of Paramount Pictures’ movie posters on his wall in his room. No surprise, as Paramount is the new picture’s studio. Miller works at an AMC theater with some colorfully funny co-workers.

Miller wants to go to film school, and Clara wants to go to acting school. They’ve both applied to the same college. Of course, Morgan is dealing with her own grief, having lost her husband and she tries to be a good mom to Clara the best she can. This film humorously has Morgan and Jonah finally having their first kiss around the time of Clara’s birthday so conflict ensues as would be expected in a story such as this one.

Allison Williams plays her role as both a young girl and a woman. She comes across believably as a wife, a mom and a lover to Jonah even though the romance between Jonah and Morgan is more sweet-natured than steamy. Based on a Colleen Hoover book, the film’s supporting cast includes likable young performers such as Sam Morelos and Ethan Costanilla as Lexie and Efren, respectively. Lexie is Clara’s best friend and Morelos is clearly having a great time in her role so the audience will have fun with it as well.

While Regretting You offers humor and drama in equal increments, it’s most successful when it stays light. Although the heavier scenes play awkwardly, they also feel true to real life and have a certain level of relatability to them. I liked the performance by Mckenna Grace the best. She is a clear standout and brings a lot of charisma and passion to her character, Clara. Grace is quite talented and carries much of the movie when Allison Williams and Dave Franco aren’t on screen.

Scott Eastwood and Willa Fitzgerald have some moments to shine, but they ultimately get lost in the shuffle as this is clearly a movie about a mother and a daughter trying to get on their feet after tragedy and maintain a bond that keeps their relationship healthy. This film is a big giant advertisement for Jolly Rancher candy too. It plays a big part in the plot and adds some cuteness factor to the film as a whole.

Mason Thames is surprisingly effective as the boyfriend, Miller, who is sincere and never becomes a jerk even if the plot opens up the window for him to stoop to lower levels. Instead, Thames maintains the integrity of the character and has some nice chemistry with Grace that keeps the film afloat even in some rather goofball romantic scenes.

Regretting You is really a charmer. It’s not as heavy as the other Colleen Hoover adaptation, It Ends with Us, and the new film has an appeal that is undeniable. It is not that the movie is dramatically profound that makes it work so well, but rather the fact that it is sincere in the themes it brings into view. Also, the character development is well-balanced and Franco, in particular, gets to shine in a role that is decent for the actor to take flight in. At the end of the day, this is Mckenna Grace and Mason Thames’ big moment in Hollywood, though, and both younger performers are simply fantastic. Their romance will set the big screen ablaze and have younger audiences swooning in the aisles. You’ll have no regrets seeing this one.

Rating: 7/10

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