Cunning Comedy “I Want You Back” Has Something New to Say About Romance

Now on Prime Video streaming service

A reverse romantic comedy in which a duo of jilted lovers collaborate on a ruse to regain the affections of their exes, Jason Orley’s I Want You Back (B+) is chock-full of fun and charm. Charlie Day and Jenny Slate are a hoot as the goofy twosome in cahoots, with Gina Rodriguez and Scott Eastwood effective as the seemingly winning lovers who abandoned them. Slate in particular is a delight in her role and lends a droll demeanor as an unconventional leading lady on a path to self-discovery. Many of the romcom genre’s formulaic conventions are front and center but in wry, warped form, and the writers play to the comic talents of the ensemble with confident effect. It’s full of fun detours including a jaunty infiltration of a middle school musical, karaoke and nightclub sequences of tremendous joy and a variety of pratfalls and showdowns worthy of the story’s idiosyncratic characters. Amidst the madcap events is a series of smart observations about compatibility and personal destiny. Swipe left or right on your streaming service to connect with this film.

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