top of page
Search

Streaming: Regretting You (2025) by Josh Boone: A Bittersweet Exploration of Loss, Love, and Second Chances Between a Mother and Daughter

When Grief Forces a Family to Face Themselves

Regretting You is a 2025 romantic drama directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) and adapted from the bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover. The screenplay, co-written with Susan McMartin, translates Hoover’s signature blend of heartbreak, family conflict, and redemption to the screen.

The story centers on Morgan Grant (played by Allison Williams) and her teenage daughter Clara (McKenna Grace), whose strained relationship unravels after the sudden death of Morgan’s husband, Chris (Scott Eastwood). As the two navigate grief and buried secrets, their emotional distance deepens — until both must confront painful truths about love, loss, and forgiveness.

With supporting performances from Dave Franco, Mason Thames, and Clancy Brown, Regretting You combines emotional sincerity with a touch of youthful romance. Released on October 24, 2025, the film marks the second major screen adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel following It Ends With Us (2024), cementing Hoover’s growing influence in the film industry.

Why to Recommend Film — Heartfelt Healing Through Generations

Regretting You is a film about how family wounds and unspoken grief can both divide and heal. It resonates most with viewers drawn to emotionally grounded, character-driven storytelling.

  • Emotional realism: The film explores how grief reshapes identity — not through melodrama, but through small, intimate moments between mother and daughter.

  • Strong performances: McKenna Grace brings both teenage defiance and vulnerability, while Allison Williams captures the exhaustion and love of single motherhood.

  • Romantic tenderness: Clara’s budding relationship with Miller (Mason Thames) adds a glimmer of hope that contrasts the family’s pain.

  • Themes of forgiveness: Rather than focus on tragedy, the story moves toward reconciliation — between generations, mistakes, and regrets.

  • Faithful tone to Hoover’s world: Like the author’s novels, it balances sorrow and sweetness, showing how healing rarely follows a straight path.

What is the Trend Followed — “Trauma Romance” and Domestic Emotional Drama

Regretting You fits into the current wave of trauma-centered romantic dramas, where love becomes both the cause and cure of emotional pain.

  • Literary adaptations revival: Follows the ongoing trend of adapting emotionally charged novels by authors like Colleen Hoover and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

  • Mother–daughter realism: Reflects a growing cinematic interest in intergenerational female relationships beyond clichés of rebellion or devotion.

  • Soft grief cinema: Alongside films like Aftersun and Pieces of a Woman, it presents grief with tenderness instead of spectacle.

  • Romantic melancholy: The film continues the trend of exploring love through loss — finding light in emotional aftermath rather than passion alone.

In Summary — What the “Regretting You” Plot Represents

Element

Trend Connection

Implication

Mother–daughter tension

Intergenerational emotional drama

Healing family wounds through shared vulnerability

Sudden death and betrayal

Trauma-centered narrative

Grief as a pathway to rediscovery rather than despair

Teen romance subplot

Hope amid heartbreak

Love as emotional education for the young

Letters, secrets, and memory

Literary adaptation style

Reflection on truth, forgiveness, and human frailty

The story is less about regret and more about reconciliation — learning that love persists even after the trust that once held it together is broken.

Director’s Vision — Intimacy Over Spectacle

Director Josh Boone, known for emotionally charged youth dramas, approaches the material with restraint and empathy.

  • Personal focus: Boone narrows the scope from Hoover’s multi-threaded novel to focus on Morgan and Clara’s emotional evolution.

  • Natural pacing: He employs long takes and soft lighting to evoke realism and intimacy.

  • Emphasis on silence: Dialogue gives way to pauses and lingering glances, representing the unspoken grief between characters.

  • Modern Americana aesthetic: Set in small-town North Carolina, the film uses nostalgic imagery — kitchens, cars, quiet porches — to ground the emotional intensity.

  • Faithful tone: The director preserves Hoover’s signature blend of melancholy and hope while trimming narrative complexity for film audiences.

Themes — Grief, Forgiveness, and Rediscovery of Love

At its heart, Regretting You is a meditation on how people grow through loss — not away from it.

  • Motherhood and identity: Morgan’s grief forces her to rediscover who she is beyond wife and mother.

  • Adolescent awakening: Clara’s rebellion stems not only from anger but from inherited pain — learning that adults are fallible.

  • Secrets and emotional honesty: The film explores how lies, even protective ones, can fracture relationships.

  • Resilience through connection: True healing comes not from moving on but from standing still long enough to understand.

  • Cycles of love: The mother–daughter dynamic mirrors romantic love — both need vulnerability to survive.

Key Success Factors — Performance, Tone, and Adaptation Strength

The film succeeds through sincerity rather than spectacle.

  • McKenna Grace’s performance: She anchors the film with emotional range — from teenage fury to quiet grief.

  • Allison Williams’ maturity: Balances control and tenderness, embodying a woman who’s both strong and lost.

  • Dave Franco’s charm: As Jonah, he adds subtle humor and warmth that lighten heavier scenes.

  • Faithful adaptation: Captures Hoover’s emotional beats, even if it simplifies her book’s structure.

  • Accessible pacing: Its two-hour runtime allows for character breathing space, appealing to both readers and casual drama fans.

Awards & Recognition — A Tender but Divisive Adaptation

While not a major awards contender, Regretting You has been noted for its performances and cinematography. Early festival screenings earned praise for McKenna Grace’s portrayal of grief and for Josh Boone’s restrained direction. The film holds a Metascore of 33, indicating mixed reviews — critics agreed on its emotional sincerity but debated its uneven execution.

Critics Reception — Sincere Yet Uneven

Critics acknowledged the film’s emotional ambition but criticized pacing and editing inconsistencies.

  • Variety: “Heartfelt performances elevate a predictable but affecting family drama.”

  • The Hollywood Reporter: “A film with its heart in the right place, even if its structure falters.”

  • IndieWire: “Grace’s performance keeps this soft-focus Hoover adaptation from collapsing under sentimentality.”

  • The Guardian: “Earnest but unpolished — a tender exploration of grief and love across generations.”

Despite mixed reviews, audiences praised its emotional sincerity and relatable themes of forgiveness.

Reviews — Gentle, Familiar, and Comforting

Viewer responses reflect affection for the story’s emotional honesty despite its flaws.

  • IMDb Rating: 6.3/10 — audiences appreciate performances, especially McKenna Grace’s emotional range.

  • Rotten Tomatoes (projected): Around 65% — praised for warmth, criticized for pacing.

  • Fan sentiment: Viewers describe it as “a movie that feels like a Colleen Hoover novel should — raw, sad, and hopeful.”

Most agreed that while the film doesn’t fully capture the depth of the book, it succeeds as a heartfelt, watchable family drama.

Release Details

  • Release Date: October 24, 2025 (United Kingdom & U.S.)

  • Runtime: 1h 56m

  • Rating: 12A

  • Language: English (with limited French dialogue)

  • Filming Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

  • Production Companies: Constantin Film, FVR Entertainment, Frayed Pages Entertainment

Film Trend — The Colleen Hoover Cinematic Universe

Regretting You represents the new wave of book-to-screen romance adaptations led by Colleen Hoover’s massive readership. These films center on love, trauma, and recovery — emotional realism designed for both teen and adult audiences. Like It Ends With Us before it, this film leans into the “grief romance” subgenre: sentimental but grounded, accessible but raw.

This movement reflects a broader cultural trend — audiences seeking emotional authenticity in place of idealized love stories.

Social Trend — The Softening of Family Drama

The film mirrors the social shift toward exploring intergenerational trauma and healing within families. Instead of portraying rebellious youth versus controlling parents, it presents two flawed women learning to coexist. It reflects today’s empathy-driven storytelling, where characters are not judged for breaking but for rebuilding.

In a culture of quick forgiveness and fragile relationships, Regretting You reminds viewers that understanding takes time — and regret can become a form of love.

Final Verdict — A Gentle, Imperfect Journey Through Grief and Love

Josh Boone’s Regretting You doesn’t reinvent the family drama, but it earns its tears honestly. With touching performances, quiet beauty, and sincere emotional arcs, it delivers the essence of Colleen Hoover’s world: people breaking, forgiving, and finding warmth in the wreckage.

Verdict: Emotional and imperfect — Regretting You is a heartfelt adaptation that finds beauty in the ordinary pain of growing up, losing love, and learning to forgive.

Similar Films — For Fans of Emotional, Character-Driven Family Dramas

If you enjoyed Regretting You, consider these titles exploring love, loss, and second chances:

  • It Ends With Us (2024): Another Hoover adaptation about abuse, strength, and new beginnings.

  • The Fault in Our Stars (2014): Josh Boone’s earlier exploration of love and mortality.

  • Pieces of a Woman (2020): A raw study of grief and motherhood.

  • Aftersun (2022): A delicate portrait of memory and parental distance.

  • Tully (2018): Honest, witty look at motherhood and burnout.

  • Ordinary Love (2019): Subtle depiction of long-term love facing illness.

  • Little Women (2019): Intergenerational female resilience told through heart and grace.

bottom of page