My Review of "I Want You Back"

I Want You Back is Amazon Prime's latest romantic comedy for 2022. Again we come to expect certain things with this genre of movie and I think this movie knows that. They're able to play around with those expectations at times and for the most part they do it pretty well.

The movie starts off with our first couple Emma and Noah. They're on a brunch date and Noah is giving her the news that he wants to break up. Surprisingly, it's rather peaceful without any big over the top reactions. Emma is quite mature about it and they leave each other rather calmly yet awkwardly.

This is in contrast with the second couple that we have with Peter and Anne. They're at Anne's nephew's birthday party and she breaks it to him at the party. Peter tries to keep himself together but eventually falls apart at a very awkward moment.

Conveniently Peter and Emma both work in the same building. As the two of them grieve over their recent losses they bump into each other in the staircase hall. When they discuss their situations they realize that they're not alone. The two decide to hang out with each other as emotional partners while they grieve over their exes.

This really helps them get back on their feet but they're also blinded by their exes. They both want to get back to their previous relationships so they make a pact. Peter will befriend Emma's ex and convince him to go back to Emma while Emma will steal Anne's new beau away from her.

The culmination of this pact is well done with the two learning more about each other. You already know what's going to happen but we have fun with their journey to break up their exes' new relationships.

Each scenario isn't made like a skit as we kind of expect in a lot of these movies. They're built for us as the audience to get to learn more about our protagonists. I liked that they were discovering more things about themselves and each other through their evil plans.

This film is also quite aware that you probably already know what's going to happen at the end of the movie. They will pull you in other directions making you wonder what is really going to happen. Each predictable situation is stretched to the point where you think it might not actually happen. I liked this aspect of the movie because it kept me on my toes.

It's interesting how with all of the flaws of each of the characters, I still liked all of them. They're all amicable characters that I think I'd probably hang out with and that doesn't usually happen with these types of movies. There's usually a really bad person in the mix but I never really felt that way about any of the characters in this movie.

Fortunately a lot of this movie is based off of the charisma of the lead actors and they did a great job in bringing life to their characters. There's a sense of sympathy for everyone because they're all pretty relatable. They didn't overexaggerate too many things yet it was still comical and fun to watch.

Overall, I liked this movie. It doesn't truly stand out in the thousands of titles in this genre but it isn't totally unremarkable either. There are a lot of fun things with this movie that make it a worthy watch. That's why I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. If you're into romantic comedies you're probably already going to watch this if you have the opportunity to do so. Those that aren't into the genre, it's a fifty/fifty pass for you.