I Want You Back Parent Guide

Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) have just been dumped by the partners they believe to be the loves of their lives. After a chance meeting, the two decide to help each other win their exes back. But as they delve further into their schemes, they begin to realize that maybe what they’re fighting for isn’t actually what they want.

There are a few essential elements to a successful rom-com: charming leads, attractive people, funny jokes, chemistry, and a heartwarming conclusion. I Want You Back has all those elements and more. Jenny Slate and Charlie Day are two of the funniest and most talented performers working today and together they are an unstoppable force. What makes the characters of Emma and Peter brilliant, however, isn’t just the talents of the actors. They are written to be realistic and relatable. They both make mistakes, they both have some growing up to do, and they aren’t afraid to be vulnerable and emotional. And as far as attractive people go, Manny Jacinto plays one of the supporting characters. Enough said.

Where I think this movie shines the brightest, outside of the characters and performances, is in its messaging. Is the plot predictable? Sure. Rom-com tropes abound throughout the story, but there are also some subtle subversions that make the predictability less noticeable. The main messages are about self-improvement, authenticity, and vulnerability. Emma and Peter choose to grow as people not just because they’re trying to impress their exes, but because they look at their own lives and realize they aren’t the people they want to be. They take steps to change, grow, and live their dreams because they come to understand and appreciate their own self-worth outside of romantic relationships. And I, for one, appreciate that message far more than the usual “change yourself to be worthy of love” theme we tend to get from Hollywood.

All that said, there is a lot of negative content here which is going to be a deal breaker for many viewers. There’s a large amount of swearing, drinking, and sexual content (including discussion of a threesome), as well as some drug use which involves adolescents. For those reasons, this is absolutely not a movie for teens, or for adults who are uncomfortable with any of the aforementioned topics. For rom-com fans who are less easily offended by negative content, this is a fun entry into the genre and one that I hope signals a change in the types of stories that get told moving forward.