Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Amazon Prime Video brings you a heartfelt, super funny Rom-Com with I Want You Back.

WHAT IS I WANT YOU BACK?

It’s a tale as old as time. Girl dumps boy. Boy Dumps girl. But, unlike the lyrics of 2 very popular pop songs of the same title, the dumpees are the ones who want the dumpers back. 

In I Want You Back Peter and Emma are complete strangers. However, when they meet their broken hearts immediately bond them together. And as we know, misery loves company, but their commiseration turns into a wild mission: to break up each other’s exes’ new relationships. The hope is they will come running back and all will be better again.

WHAT I LIKED

Now, let me preface this by saying I LOVE a good romantic comedy. However, when I first saw the trailer for I Want You Back I wasn’t completely sold. I thought the idea was meh, I wasn’t sure if Jenny Slate and Charlie Day would have enough chemistry together to carry an entire movie. The film is written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger who are behind Love, Simon and This is Us. Those two things aren’t hilarious or romantic. So, to say I was skeptical is an understatement. However, I am glad I gave this film a chance. 

I found the film to be absolutely hilarious, heartbreaking and called my broken-hearted self out multiple times. The broken heart montage of what emotions and motions we go through as humans when absolutely wrecked by another person is spot on. I thought Jenny Slate as the heartbroken Emma stole the movie. She’s hilarious, charming, and relatable. I never knew I needed a Suddenly Seymour epiphany moment in my life until now. Charlie Day as Peter is also wildly funny. While he and Jenny could’ve gone on the same soul-finding journey, I appreciate that they both had their own paths and storylines while going through the same trauma. 

Scott Eastwood has one of my personal biggest epiphany lines of the film that he says to Emma (Slate). He asks her if they were ever really that compatible and if not, why did she want him back? I think we can all look at our previous relationships, the toughest breakups, and find our own answer to that question.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK

If I was to choose something about I Want You Back that doesn’t work I would say the run time. The film clocks in at 111minutes, just under 2 hours. For a Rom-Com that’s very long. 

I Want You Back premiers exclusively on Prime Video on February 11, 2022. Stay tuned to THS for more reviews!