MOVIE OF THE WEEK (2/4/22): I WANT YOU BACK

"And if you look here, you'll find the scenes were we could insert our old sitcoms respective co-stars!" Emma (Jenny Slate) and Peter (Charlie Day) star in a scene from director Jason Orley's romantic comedy I WANT YOU BACK. Credit: © 2022 Amazon Studios. Courtesy of Amazon Studios. All rights reserved. 

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: 

DIRECTOR: Jason Orley

KEY CAST MEMBERS: Jenny Slate, Charlie Day, Scott Eastwood, Gina Rodriguez, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo and Luke David Blumm

WEB SITE: www.amazon.com/IWantYouBack

THE BACK STORY: Emma (Jenny Slate) is in love with Noah (Scott Eastwood). Peter (Charlie Day) is in love with Anne (Gina Rodriguez). The problem is Noah and Anne are no longer in love with them, Noah and Anne having respectively found their ideal partners: A woman with her own baking business – and the ambition Noah seeks in a mate – in Ginny (Clark Backo) and the physically fit artist, well, as much an artist as a middle school theater director can be in Logan (Manny Jacinto). 

What Emma and Peter don't know, however, is that their very sad, dumped paths will cross since they work in the same building. That chance meeting will lead to the hatching of a plan to break up their exes' new relationships, making them realize they should go back to Emma and Peter. 

But if you think that plan is going off without a hitch, you've apparently never watched a romantic comedy ...

THE REVIEW: You know what's nice about I Want You Back? It's not the comedy, which works more than it doesn't. It's not the chemistry among the leads, which feels a lot like they are such best friends that it almost becomes annoying when they don't see it. No, it's how the film doesn't really insult your intelligence with over-the-top zaniness and delivers characters whose actions never feel like they happen for the sake of a joke. Instead, you get a film with nice enough, likable people that by the time the film gets to its eventual conclusion, you'll think about the qualities of each character you might wish to find in a partner of your own. 

You'll think about the nice aspects of relationships, the path one must take to discovering what they are meant to do in life, risks and rewards and how little things truly do make for the most significant memories, or perhaps the most significant aspects that determine who is and isn't right for you if you're lucky enough to find them. 

At the very least, it should make you realize it's not the person you used to have you want back, but rather the feelings they made you feel when things were great - and for that, I Want You Back is worth renewing your Amazon Prime membership back (at least for another month of movie watching).

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):