I Want You Back Review: Jenny Slate and Charlie Day’s Rom-Com Has Its Moments!

I Want You Back is an Amazon Prime Video Hollywood romantic comedy. It is directed by Jason Orley and written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. The film stars Charlie Day (Peter), Jenny Slate (Emma), Scott Eastwood (Noah), Gina Rodriguez (Anne), Manny Jacinto (Logan) and several others.

The synopsis reads, “Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) thought they were on the precipice of life’s biggest moments – marriage, kids, and houses in the suburbs – until their respective partners dumped them. Horrified to learn that the loves of their lives have already moved on, Peter and Emma hatch a hilarious plan to win back their exes with unexpected results.”

Amazon Prime Movie I Want You Back Review Contains No Spoiler

Amazon Prime’s I Want You Back opens with Noah breaking up with Emma and Anne breaking up with Peter. Their break-up sequences are parallelly shown. Emma and Peter both have a dramatic emotional reaction as their partners’ end the relationship. Turns out that Emma and Peter, who are strangers, work in the same office building.

The next day, Emma and Peter cry on the office staircase. They both hear each other crying and ask what happened. Both are going through a break-up, so they instantly build a friendly connection. Emma and Peter decide to cause a nuisance in their exes to love life to win them back. Emma decides to mess with Peter’s ex Anne and her new boyfriend Logan’s relationship. Peter plans to trick Emma’s ex Noah with something that will put his new relationship in trouble.

Will Emma and Peter succeed in their plans? Will they win their former partners back, or they’ll get caught? Is there any chance of Emma and Peter falling for each other? You’ll find the answers by the end of the film.

I Want You Back has an amusing opening scene that instantly gets you interested in the story. The scene when Emma and Peter meet each other also plays out nicely. The two are fun, and you immediately think to yourself, ‘they make a good pair’. However, when they come out with notorious plans to create trouble in their exes relationships, your interest shifts there. You want to know what they do and how they will succeed/fail without embarrassing themselves.

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When Emma and Peter act on their plan, the narrative gets enjoyable. But the more time they spend with Anne/Noah, the story loses grip. There’s not much thrill later in how they try to spoil these two relationships. Even the challenges they face in their plan are not fun enough. The movie is subjected to many dragged scenes that aren’t always enjoyable.

The romantic-comedy doesn’t have much romance between any couple. The comedy is majorly missing too. Jenny Slate and Charlie Day’s hilarious performances bring the comical element at times. But that’s not enough to save the movie.

I Want You Back Review: Final Thoughts

Overall, I Want You Back has moments where you like what you are watching. But mostly, it lacks charm. The basic premise sounds interesting. But the dragged execution doesn’t make it a fun watch as one expects from a rom-com.

The film will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video on February 11.

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