I Want You Back (2022)
Dir Jason Orley
Written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger
Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Scott Eastwood, Gina Rodriguez, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo, Luke David Blumm, Jamie Gertz, Mason Gooding.
On the same night two 30 “something’s” are dumped by their partners. Emma (Slate) is dumped by Noah (Eastwood), and Peter (Day) is dumped by Anne (Rodriguez). When they meet by happenstance the next day as they work in the same building, they decide to drown their sorrows together and soon become friends.
When they discover that their ex’s have both now moved on; Noah with Ginny (Backo), and Anne with Logan (Jacinto), they decide to team together to help break up the new relationships in order to get their ex’s back.
Peter befriends Noah, in order to try to talk him out of the new relationship and go back to Emma, and Emma befriends Logan, in order to seduce him away from Anne.
As the weeks go by, and the deception goes on – the relationships between the new pairings grow – as friendships are formed, and feelings that were once so strong, start to dwindle. The friendship between Peter and Emma, which is obvious to the viewer, is the obligatory oblivious to themselves.
I really enjoyed this film, and that is for several variables.
The screenplay is by primarily television writers Aptaker and Berger is solid, and all the characters feel well written with enough development that we understand who they are. The relationship pairings are all very well done as well, such as Peter and Noah, and Emma and Logan. The best friendship goes to Emma and school lad Trevor (Blumm).
Slate herself gets MVP for her role as Emma. She shines in every scene, and her performance of Suddenly Seymour is mesmerising. Her acting abilities have always been on point, especially her comedic abilities. She shows she can handle dramatic moments, as her character has the most growth throughout her arc.
The pacing is a little off in the third act, and one genuinely charming character is left with unresolved story lines, but this is one of the better romantic comedies I have seen recently.
Great job to all involved.
4/5