For It Is Man's Number: colleen hoover

Showing posts with label colleen hoover. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Reminders Of Him (2026)

I don't quite know how it happened, but I think I have now seen all of the recent movies that have been adapted from Colleen Hoover novels. If you don't know the kind of tales that Hoover writes, think Nicholas Sparks, but with . . . ummmm, no, actually, just think Nicholas Sparks. That should be enough for you.

This one stars Maika Monroe as Kenna Rowan, a young woman who tries to restart her life after spending a number of years in prison. She was in there because of her involvement in the death of her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), and that makes it very difficult to try and find a way to connect with her daughter (Diem, played by Zoe Kosovic), who is in the care of her grandparents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick (Bradley Whitford), and is also doted on by Scotty's friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers). Grace and Patrick firmly believe that Kenna killed their son, and they have no reason to let her near her daughter, who was born near the start of her prison sentence. Part of Kenna agrees with them, but she eventually forms a connection with Ledger that allows him to learn a bit more about how the worst night of her life unfolded, and why she maybe shouldn't be judged so harshly.

The first screenplay by Lauren Levine, working with Hoover to adapt her novel, Reminders Of Him is a typical slice of tragi-romance, all presented with soft lighting, plenty of rainfall to keep the leads looking wet and ready to be warmed up, and an excessive selection of country music soundtracking it all. While I'm unfamiliar with director Vanessa Caswill, her filmography has a few other titles that would seem to make her a solid choice for this kind of thing. It's all very predictable stuff, and helped enormously by the casting.

Monroe is always welcome in a lead role, no matter how good or bad the movie itself is, and I wasn't as bothered as I otherwise would have been by the fact that her character had to spend most of her time onscreen looking sad and/or angry. Withers is decent alongside her, very much acting like a gentle giant in a way that I assume will keep many viewers happy. Both Graham and Whitford are good in their roles, although I wish they both could have had a bit more screentime. Elsewhere, there are enjoyable supporting turns from Monika Myers and Nicholas Duvernay. As for Kosovic, I wasn't a big fan, but try not to spend too much time being critical of child actors.

If you've seen the other major movies that this sits alongside then you'll find enough to enjoy here. The predictability is part of the comfort, everyone generally handles the material well, and it all ends in a way that should leave viewers satisfied. I can't say that I enjoyed it, personally, but I can see why others might. I thought it needed just a little bit more, but there are one or two good lessons at the heart of the narrative, and it's worth remembering that I am far from the target demographic.

5/10

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Thursday, 29 January 2026

Regretting You (2025)

Another romantic drama based on a novel from Colleen Hoover, who seems to be quite the hot commodity when it comes to movie adaptations at the moment, Regretting You is a film that I didn't entirely dislike, but I couldn't fully enjoy. I tried to figure out exactly what the film was doing to turn me off, but I couldn't out my finger on it. Then it struck me. This is a film focused on a couple of teens that spends far too much of the runtime also showing us the lives of the adults. And it almost infantilises those adults, turning them into people simply cosplaying their own teen storylines alongside the actual teens.

Mckenna Grace is Clara Grant, daughter of Morgan (Allison Williams) and Chris (Scott Eastwood). Clara is going through some standard teen stuff, although that now includes an interesting development after an encounter with Miller Adams (Mason Thames), but she doesn't always want to confide in her mother. That's why she is happy to also have her Aunt Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald), who appears to be happily married to Jonah (Dave Franco). Happiness is fleeting though, and Clara has her world turned upside-down when her father and her aunt both die in a car crash, creating a lot of pain and a need to reframe every memory held by Clara, Morgan, and Joshua.

Directed by Josh Boone (who has, let's say, mixed results throughout his filmography), this is standard stuff for anyone who knows what they're getting into. If you're familiar with Colleen Hoover, or if you've seen any of the films based on the works of Nicholas Sparks, then you'll know the mix of melodrama and gentle humour here. Whatever is happening is always BIG, it's love and hate stuff, life and death, and there are many silver linings to be seen amidst the gathering stormclouds.

Writer Susan McMartin struggles to adapt material that may well work better on the page, considering the time jump that starts things off and the frankly bizarre relationship complications that we watch playing out, but at least the younger cast members make the most of things.

Both Grace and Thames are performers I have enjoyed watching over the past few years, and seeing them used as nominal leads here is more satisfying than anything else in the film. Both do well with what they're given, and they get on with one another in a way that feels impressively natural. Williams is decent enough in her role, and certainly does much better work than Franco, Fitzgerald, or Eastwood, and there's another bonus point here for giving supporting roles to wonderful relative newcomer Sam Morelos and wonderful old-timer Clancy Brown.

Watch this in the right frame of mind, or in the right company, and you might appreciate the emotions of it all, the moments that have characters acting cute, and the infrequent laughs. Watch it in a bad mood though and you'll probably struggle to stop yourself from smashing your screen, particularly during the many times things slow right down to show Franco brooding more, either in the foreground or loitering behind another character he seems unable to be honest with.

5/10

Friday, 11 April 2025

It Ends With Us (2024)

People may be more interested in the behind-the-scenes drama than the onscreen result now that It Ends With Us is way beyond the marketing and all-smiles-for-the-release phase, but it's a film that I actually saw before the release of the full details of what allegedly happened while it was being made. So I'll try just to judge it on what we get within the film.

It's a strange mix, and ultimately not a great film.

Blake Lively plays Lily Bloom, who is the latest fictional character in a long line of those who prove the idea of nominative determinism when she gathers up the courage and funds to open her own florist shop. She becomes firm friends with Allysa (Jenny Slate), which also leads to her dating Allysa's brother, Ryle (Justin Baldoni). Lily also ends up reconnecting with someone from her past, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), and this causes tension between her and Ryle, which highlights the problem that Ryle has controlling his temper.

Adapted from the Colleen Hoover book by Christy Hall, and directed by Baldoni, there's something worthwhile, and even admirable, about It Ends With Us. The third act presents a surprisingly impactful and pointed look at the many ways people can excuse, and even justify, red flags/violence/abuse in their loved ones, often until it is far too late to get themselves into a much safer situation. The fact that it's all dressed up in so prettily, just like a standard romantic movie, is both a plus and a minus for it. I understand that it's a way to sell the film, as well as being a way to present the rose-filtered glasses that people can have on while trying to hold on to a relationship that isn't worth their time, but it undoubtedly works against the more serious thematic strand that is the main thrust of the film.

Lively is a really good lead, she can do gritty and strong as well as she can do soft and mushy, and this role needs her to do both. Slate is also a big plus, portraying someone who seems to be a really good friend, but takes time to fully step up when things are taking a turn for the worse. As for Baldoni and Sklenar, they're both here more for their looks than their acting talent, from what I can tell, but the latter certainly has more of an appealing screen presence than the former, and that clearly helps with how the story wants to pan out. You get decent supporting turns from Hasan Minhaj (partner of Slate's character), Kevin McKidd and Amy Morton (parents of a young Lily, who is played well by Isabela Ferrer), and Alex Neustaedter (young Atlas), but anyone moving around onscreen tends to be there in service of the unfolding stories of Lily, Ryle, and Atlas, and the film moves in and out of interactions always ready to get right back alongside one of the leads.

I am not familiar with the source material (and I don't think I'll ever want to dive into any Colleen Hoover books, as upsetting as I'm sure that is for her to hear as she cries into her millions), but I can't help thinking there was a better way to adapt it into a film. It's only the third act that stands out, and that's only thanks to the use of a metaphorical bright marker pen underlining the real message of the movie, and even making it feel very like a love triangle seems to be a disservice to a lot of women who will watch this and recognise some disturbingly familiar moments.

Considering the relative success, I'm sure we'll see more attempts to adapt Colleen Hoover novels in the near future. You could say that it's unlikely to end with this. Maybe the others will be less problematic. We'll just have to wait and see.

5/10