Film Review: “I Want You Back”

Slate, Day charm in warmhearted rom-com

Emma (Jenny Slate) and Peter (Charlie Day) stalk their exes on Instagram.

If you’re looking for a post-dinner, new streamable rom-com to add to your Valentine’s Day evening itinerary, you could do worse than I Want You Back. Featuring the always appealing Jenny Slate and Charlie Day, the film hews close to standard rom-com tropes, but offers up just enough surprises and engaging performances to keep it from feeling too tired.

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Film Review: The Longest Ride

A Nicholas Sparks adaptation done right, with all the flaws and annoyances of a Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

A city girl. A cowboy. Country love ensues.
A city girl. A cowboy. Country love ensues.

The newest adaptation of a sappy romantic Nicholas Sparks novel, The Longest Ride, is exactly that — sappy and romantic, and formulaic with a preposterous twist added in for preposterous effect. The story about a young beautiful art lover (Britt Robertson, Dan in Real Life) who falls in love with a young beautiful bull rider (Scott Eastwood, Fury) is the surface romance, featuring lines like “I can’t just quit. It’s all I know”, etc. The more dramatic underlying romance is the story told by an injured old man (Alan Alda, M.A.S.H.), about his courtship and marriage to the love of his life (Oona Chaplin, Game of Thrones) and the sacrifices they made for each other. Combine the two together in a layered emotional cheese fest and you have the makings of a classic Sparks story which the movie studio can use to excitedly make a film trailer that states “Two Stories Separated by Time / Connected by Fate.” (see trailer below)

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