The Audience Reality
Meanwhile, actual audiences who've seen it? Completely different story.
"I absolutely loved this movie. It's sad, romantic, and funny all in one. The acting is phenomenal; it felt so real. I cried three times while watching."
"Early screening with my book club on campus, and we loved the movie."
The disconnect is massive. And it's not new - It Ends With Us had a 54% critic score but an 88% audience score. Made over $350 million despite critics calling it problematic.
So what's happening here? Why do critics consistently hate every BookTok adaptation while audiences show up and love them?
Critics Want Art. Audiences Want Feelings.
Here's the fundamental disconnect: critics are evaluating these movies as cinema. Audiences are consuming them as emotional experiences.
When a regular critic watches Regretting You, they're analyzing tonal consistency, original storytelling, sophisticated dialogue, cinematic craft and also some cultural relevance.
When an audience member watches Regretting You, they're asking: Did I cry? Did I swoon? Did the romance hit? Did I connect with the characters? Did I feel something?
Neither approach is wrong. They're just measuring completely different things.
It's A Teen Romance Fantasy. Not Citizen Kane.
Here's what I think critics fundamentally misunderstand about Colleen Hoover adaptations: they're not trying to be sophisticated cinema. They're teen romance fantasies brought to life.
Regretting You is about a mother and daughter navigating grief, betrayal, and new love after a family tragedy. It's melodramatic. It's predictable. It hits every romance beat you expect. The dialogue is sometimes corny. The twists are telegraphed.
And you know what? That's fine.
Not every movie needs to reinvent storytelling. Not every romance needs to deconstruct the genre. Sometimes a movie can just deliver exactly what its target audience wants - emotional catharsis through familiar beats executed competently.
Critics keep comparing these to Nicholas Sparks movies, like that's the ultimate insult. But Nicholas Sparks' movies made BILLIONS because people wanted exactly that kind of story. The Notebook is objectively melodramatic and predictable. It's also beloved.
Could It Be Better? Definitely. Does It Have To? Hell No.
I watched Regretting You. Is it perfect? No. Could the pacing be tighter? Yes. Is some dialogue cringey? Absolutely. Do the adult plot threads feel underdeveloped compared to the teen romance? For sure.
But here's the thing: the movie delivers what it promises. Mckenna Grace and Mason Thames have genuine chemistry. The teen romance storyline works. When the movie wants you to cry, you cry. When it wants you to swoon, you swoon.
It's a competent execution of a specific genre formula. And for the audience that wants that genre, that's enough.
Does it need to be elevated cinema to justify its existence? Hell no.
The BookTok Adaptation Problem
Critics have developed a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything labeled "BookTok adaptation." Before they even watch it, they're primed to hate it.
Because BookTok represents everything critics think is wrong with modern reading culture: They literally hate it, but never read a single page.
But that's classist gatekeeping disguised as criticism. There's nothing wrong with books or movies that prioritize emotional impact over artistic innovation. Both can exist.
The problem is critics reviewing BookTok movies through the wrong lens entirely. It's like reviewing a McDonald's burger using Michelin star criteria. Yeah, it's not haute cuisine. That was never the goal.
It's The Romance Fantasy Of A Teen
This is key: Regretting You is specifically a teen romance fantasy. The intense emotions. The dramatic betrayals. The belief that love conquers all. The heightened stakes.
That's how teenagers experience romance. Everything feels earth-shattering. Every emotion is turned up to eleven. Every relationship feels like it could be forever.
Adults watching this and calling it overwrought are missing the point. It's SUPPOSED to feel overwrought because that's authentic to how teens experience these emotions.
Critics keep saying, "This is unrealistic" or "The characters act irrationally." Yeah. Because they're teenagers navigating impossible situations. Of course, they're irrational. That's the point.
Why Both Sides Are Right
Here's the truth: critics and audiences are both correct.
Critics are right that Regretting You is formulaic, predictable, and doesn't break new cinematic ground. It's Hallmark-level storytelling with a bigger budget. The craft isn't exceptional. The writing isn't groundbreaking.
Audiences are right that it's emotionally satisfying, the performances work, and it delivers exactly what fans of the book wanted. It made them cry. It made them swoon. It gave them the catharsis they were looking for.
Both evaluations are valid because they're measuring different things.
The Verdict
Regretting You isn't going to win Oscars. It's not going to be on critics' year-end lists. Film scholars aren't going to study it in fifty years.
And that's completely okay.
It's a teen romance melodrama that knows its audience and serves them well. The fact that critics hate it while audiences love it doesn't mean one side is wrong - it means they want different things from movies.
Could it be better? Sure. Could it be more original, less predictable, tonally tighter? Absolutely.
Does it HAVE to be those things to justify its existence? Hell no.
Sometimes, a movie can just be a competent delivery of emotional beats that make its target audience feel things. That's enough.
Critics need to stop reviewing BookTok adaptations like they're supposed to be prestige cinema. And audiences need to stop acting like critical consensus matters for movies designed specifically for them.
Regretting You is exactly what it's supposed to be. Whether that's enough depends entirely on what you're looking for.
For critics: it's not. For audiences: it is.
And both are right.