Regretting You is certainly not the only book-to-film adaptation to have come out this year— but it’s definitely one of the most memorable. It debuts McKenna Grace and Mason Thames in their first-ever romance movie, and Dave Franco and Allison Williams in yet another one. Personally, I’ve been ecstatic about this film since the very first piece of press coverage was released; after all, I am a hopeless romantic at heart.
The film Regretting You was based upon a book of the same name by New York Times best-selling author Colleen Hoover. The story follows two families as they navigate the ups and downs of life, love, and loss. Morgan and Chris Grant, who have been dating since high school, have a sixteen-year-old daughter named Clara. Morgan’s sister, Jenny, is dating Morgan’s childhood best friend Jonah, and they have a newborn named Elijah. Morgan (Allison Williams) and Clara (McKenna Grace) were about as close as a typical mother-daughter relationship could get. They had their traditions, but as any family does, they argued. However, Clara had a particularly fascinating relationship with her aunt Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald); together, they could talk about anything and everything—more akin to a bond between older and younger sisters than between an aunt and her niece.
As shown in the trailer, Jenny and Clara’s father, Chris, get into an accident pretty early on in the film, meeting their untimely demise and leaving the rest of the cast to grieve over their losses. Clara takes it particularly hard, having lost two of the people she idolized most, and becomes unlikely friends— and imminently more than friends— with Miller, the popular boy at school. Jonah (Dave Franco) and Morgan, however, along with their grief, suspect that the recently deceased Jenny and Chris may have been having an affair. The story of Regretting You is that of great tragedy, grief, and loss, but ultimately? It’s a story of love, pining, and regret.
I think that this film did a wonderful job weaving themes of sorrow and adversity among those of joy and young love— not many movies nowadays can say they’ve done the same. McKenna and Mason, who play two of the main lovers, “Clara” and “Miller,” have truly incredible chemistry that develops beautifully throughout the film. It’s probably because the two young actors have been rumored to already be in a relationship outside of the movie itself.
Honestly, from the costumes to the soundtrack—and all the way back around to the phenomenal cast— this film was one of the best to have come out all year. Laila Atwell, current sophomore attending Mountain Ridge High School, likewise regarded the film with high praise: “I thought it was incredible. Really, it was so inspirational. Honestly, it made me aspire to be more— The way each character had their own things and their own goals. The way that they reached them. McKenna’s acting and entire personality, really, throughout the film, only made me want to be a major league actress even more.” And it was, it was inspiring. Throughout the film, the characters work hard for the things that they want, and whether they get them or not, they still find a way to move forward. This film was truly inspirational, and the cast only added to that.
The soundtrack was honestly one of the best things about this movie, with artists ranging from The Killers to Noah Kahan. It was extraordinary in and of itself, with songs that everyone can love and relate to. My personal favorites from the film were “Everywhere, Everything,” by Noah Kahan (the staple for the movie), “Writings on the Wall” by Role Model, and “Mountain” by Hannah Cohen. A rather large group of folks on popular social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have been thanking the movie and McKenna Grace herself for introducing them to Role Model. If that doesn’t show how utterly fantastic this soundtrack was, I don’t know what will.
Regretting You is a story of love, life, loss, and ultimately the message of never regretting a thing because every single choice shapes your life in ways that wouldn’t be possible without those difficult decisions. Had Jonah and Morgan been together from the get-go, Clara wouldn’t exist— and that’s where the message of this story truly reveals itself. At one point, Morgan says something along the lines of “Out of everything that’s happened, I would go back and do it all the same, because you know what it brought me? It brought me you.” If Morgan hadn’t been with Chris, she never would have had Clara, and in spite of everything, she could never regret her daughter.
I know I’ve said this about a lot of films recently, but Regretting You is by far one of the best and most memorable romance movies to date, and it should not be overlooked simply because others believe it to be unappealing.
