I Want You Back (2022 | USA | 111 minutes | Jason Orley)
Carried by the charm and comedic timing of its leads, I Want You Back is a rote romantic comedy that you’ve already seen just by watching the trailer.
If you haven’t seen said trailer, best skip it if you want to go into the film with a modicum of discovery. Even then, it is still a largely by-the-numbers experience that will soon be forgotten in lieu of far more interesting films that have come before it. The story here is that strangers-turned-friends Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) have both recently been dumped. United in their heartbreak and unable to accept their breakups, they decide to help each other get their former partners back. Peter will befriend Noah (Scott Eastwood) in order to convince him of what he is missing. Emma will attempt to get in the middle of Anne (Gina Rodriguez) and her new boyfriend Logan (Manny Jacinto).
Anything more than even that basic plot description would give away what is an already obvious sequence of events. The primary thing holding them back is the tone. There are times when I was certain this was a PG-13 film for how tame it felt. At others, it dipped into the more vulgar aspects of the characters that the story seemed to be just waiting for. Mainly, this is where you think the situation is going to explode and, in one particular scene, it almost does as Peter must hide in a precarious situation rather than be caught which is where a chuckle is elicited. It still is a futile exercise. That hypothetically more adventurous and rewarding comedy we only get glimpses of is one that you will spend the entire time waiting for to no avail.
The only factor redeeming the predictable plot is that Day and Slate are both genuinely a joy to watch. They’re excellent as always, bouncing off each other perfectly with performances that remain committed even as the rest of the film is deeply lacking, I recommend watching them in whatever else they take on as this isn’t their best work by any means.
The unfortunate thing is that the film seems to hold us at a distance and it looks worse the closer you look. This is both from literal visual sense where everything is flat and borderline ugly the longer you look at it. More significantly, the unpleasantness is also baked into the narrative. If you spend more than a moment thinking about the story you realize that their scheme is actually pretty messed up, sociopathic behavior. If it really committed to leaning into that darker humor it would feel less timid and, by proxy, more self-aware. Instead, it plays their desperation and the increasing heights of their shenanigans with an incredibly straight face that strains credulity. There are scenes where it really seems about ready to make a leap to achieving its comedic potential. In particular, the unexpected appearance of an SNL mainstay momentarily seems like we could really get to a potentially dark place. Regrettably, though, it always pulls back, toeing the line, and falling back into far too familiar patterns.
Director Jason Orley’s previous film, 2019’s Big Time Adolescence, is precisely what I had hoped for with this film. In his feature directorial debut he managed to walk a fine line between tragedy and comedy with a greater sense of vision than whatever takes place here. Orley wrote that film.
Unfortunately, he did not write this one and it shows. Instead, it is written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger who are most known for the engaging film Love, Simon and the less engaging tv shows like Love, Victor, This Is Us, as well as How I Met Your Father. If those are shows you enjoy, you’ll probably like I Want You Back. If you don’t, you most certainly won’t.
The thing that got stuck in my mind was a throwaway joke that Day makes about how they are essentially recreating Cruel Intentions. As a result, I decided to watch that immediately following I Want You Back and enjoyed the unfairly maligned 1999 cult satire much more. So in that regard, watching this comedy did end up leading me to a good movie. It just came after this one had ended.
You can watch I Want You Back on Amazon Prime Video starting Feb. 11; Cruel Intentions is also available there now as well as on Vudu/GooglePlay.