Delayed Reaction: I Want You Back

Premise: Two strangers form a friendship and alliance to get back together with their exes.

 

One of the underrated aspects of a proper RomCom is that it’s easy to assemble a good cast for them. It turns out, actors enjoy an easy job for a decent paycheck working in chill conditions with presumably pleasant people. That’s the sense I get from I Want You Back. The movie doesn’t get anyone who isn’t normally gettable. It just gets a lot of them. Charlie Day and Jenny Slate are nice leads. Scott Eastwood and Gina Rodriguez are good choices for the exes. It is a bit of a shame to see Rodriguez underused here. I was delighted to see Manny Jacinto and Clark Backo as the new partners for the exes. It’s like Jacinto and Backo are in a training program to lead their own RomComs in a couple years. You’ve got Dylan Gelula and Mason Gooding there in the background, living their own RomCom about a couple trying to get rid of their irresponsible roommate. Pete Davidson shows up for some reason. They even get Benjamin Mackenzie for a scene. And while I know Mackenzie is in his mid-40s, it still feels rude to me to have him as the father of a teenager. Look at all those names. How am I supposed to not watch this movie?

 

Once you get past the cast, there isn’t much to this movie. We’ve all seen RomComs. We know how this is going to play out. They aren’t in the business of pulling the rug out from under anyone. I’m not sure I’d want them to try and get ahead of the audience for this either. There are some small choices I appreciated. I like that it doesn’t make anyone the villain. The exes aren’t toxic people who Day and Slate shouldn’t want to be with. They are just compatible with other people. Same with the rival love interests. It would be easy to sell out Jacinto as a himbo jerk, but they decide to redeem him instead. I appreciate that the movie doesn’t oversell the moment when everyone finds out about Day and Slate’s plan. It ultimately doesn’t matter. The others are rightly pissed, but they do seem to appreciate that their plan was ineffective.

 

My biggest issues with the film are more key to its success, sadly. Day and Slate never read as more than friends to me. The characters don’t feel written to their strengths. Along those lines, the movie isn’t very funny. There are long serious stretches. Even some of the comedy set pieces fall flat. When Day gets trapped in the laundry bin as Eastwood proposes to Backo and proceeds to have set with her is funny on paper. I spent most of the time dreading the idea that he’d get caught, yet they also don’t take advantage of how awkward that was for Day. The movie is full of missed beats: moments where the director notices the scene is lacking energy, looks around at the wealth of screen talent around him, and comes up with a quip or zinger. So, no matter how winsome the cast is and how genuinely good-spirited the movie is, this is a RomCom that doesn’t sell me on the Rom or the Com. There’s only so good it can be.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend