I WANT YOU BACK

(director: Jason Orley; screenwriters: Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger; cinematographer: Brian Burgoyne; editor: Jonathan Schwartz; music: Siddhartha Khosla; cast: Jenny Slate(Emma), Charlie Day (Peter), Clark Backo ( Ginny), Luke David Blumm (Trevor), Gina Rodriguez (Anne), Manny Jacinto (Logan), Scott Eastman (Noah); Runtime: 111; MPAA Rating: R; producers; Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger, John Rickard, Peter Safran: Amazon Prime; 2022)

“A dullish and shallow typical mainstream rom/com.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A dullish and shallow typical mainstream rom/com directed by Jason Orley (“Peter Davidson: Alive from New York”/”Big Time Adolescence”), that’s written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger as if heartbreak over a relationship breakup could actually lead to a healing process.

Peter (Charlie Day) is a retirement home worker. The zany Emma (Jenny Slate) works as a receptionist at a dental office. Both young adults have been dumped by their significant others.

The 32-year-old Emma, who has roommates still in college, is confused about her aims in life. That may or may not be the reason the personal trainer Noah (Scott Eastman) left her. As for Peter, he’s unsure of just about everything. He has been seeing the English teacher Anne (Gina Rodriguez) for the last six years, but has become fed up with him that he’s so nervous and unsure of himself.

Now wouldn’t you know it, Peter and Emma confront each other when crying in a stairwell, and make a connection since both were dumped and left heartbroken. As the English teach is drawn to the spirited bohemian, an aspiring off-Broadway director, stuck doing school plays,  Logan (Manny Jacinto),  while the stud Noah is linked to the lively Ginny (Clark Backo).
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It seems the dumped lovers are upset their exes have so easily moved on without them and thereby come up with a crazy scheme (strictly rom/com formulaic) to win them back.  I won’t reveal their plan, since it begs to be discovered on one’s own.

These lighthearted feel-good films usually are crowd-pleasers, and despite my rebuffs will attract many viewers looking for their rom/com fix.

REVIEWED ON 2/25/2022  GRADE: C+