I WANT YOU BACK

Name: I WANT YOU BACK
Item: I WANT YOU BACK
Author: Tess Farrand

"All’s Fair in Love and War"

Family Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

I WANT YOU BACK is a sophomoric, raunchy movie about two thirtysomethings, Emma and Peter, who meet after they are dumped. They decide to help each other win their former paramours back, by breaking up their new romantic relationships. Emma commits to breaking up Peter’s ex and her new boyfriend. Meanwhile, Peter devises an underhanded plan to break up Emma’s ex and his new girlfriend. Their plans include debauchery, drugs, sex, and lies.

I WANT YOU BACK has some funny moments and good chemistry between the actors. However, the plot is slow-moving and sometimes jumps, making the script feel like it’s patch-quilted together. The lies and deceitful measures eventually blow up in the lead characters’ faces, but the movie contains lots of immoral lewd content. It also has some homosexual, bi-sexual behavior. Despite some moral, redemptive content, the movie is wrought with moral relativism. Sexually immoral behavior is never challenged. Rather, the movie takes a morally relative tone, with people saying, “It just isn’t meant to be” or “This behavior isn’t right for me.” I WANT YOU BACK is abhorrent and unacceptable.

Content:

(PaPaPa, HoHo, C, B, LLL, V, SSS, NN, AA, DD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong pagan worldview promotes moral relativism in that anyone can do anything they are comfortable doing, void of a sense of right and wrong, or any regard to ethical standards, licentious behavior includes strong homosexual and bi-sexual content, plus light Christian, moral elements of marriage commitment and family

Foul Language:

At least 28 obscenities (including more than a dozen “f” words), two Jesus profanities, middle-schooler uses profane words to describe sex between his homosexual “married” father’s sexual act with another man, plus other profanities and crude content

Violence:

Main character punched unconscious

Sex:

Sex scenes mainly take place off-screen, but noises heard, partial nudity, gay kiss, a threesome scene is set up with two girls kissing in underwear with man partially dressed, and threesome discussed in dialogue, but “threesome” is abandoned, roommates have sex off-screen, main character hides in bedroom where a couple have sex off-screen, gay sex in dialogue of middle-schooler in regard to one of his two gay fathers, a middle schooler calls adult main character his girlfriend, uncomfortable scene where main character sings a romantic scene to a middle-school boy, gives pedophilia vibe

Nudity:

Rear and upper male nudity, partial female nudity

Alcohol Use:

Several scenes of wine drinking, two scenes of drunken behavior, wild party scene

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Main characters smoke a cigarette but decide they don’t like it, Ecstasy taken at a wild party, and one character tells another character, “You’ve had a lot of drugs tonight”; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Strong miscellaneous immorality includes lying, deceit and dysfunctional family.

More Detail:

I WANT YOU BACK is a predictable, morally bankrupt movie about two thirtysomethings who meet after they are dumped by the loves of their lives. The jilted lovers discover their loves have moved on to other romantic relationships. They conspire to help each other break up the new relationships and win their significant others back at all costs.

I WANT YOU BACK has some redemptive content, including the desire to find the right partner in life and some positive messages about the sincerity of a main character. The lying and deceit eventually blows up in their faces, but the movie contains lots sexual content, homosexual and bi-sexual content, including a main character who coerces a woman into having a “threesome”, excessive vulgarity, including more than a dozen “f” words, and is wrought with moral relativism.

Emma and Peter are dumped on the same weekend. They meet each other in their office building when they both “ugly cry” in the stairwell. The broken-hearted duo quickly form an alliance where they call themselves the “sadness sisters.” Emma’s ex, Noah, has found a new love, Ginny. Peter’s ex, Anne, has fallen for the Drama teacher, Logan, at the school where she’s an English teacher.

Emma and Peter decide they can’t let go. They hatch a plan to win back their true loves by breaking up their former paramours’ new relationships. Emma volunteers for the school’s musical with the intent to seduce Logan, causing Anne to run back to Peter. Peter befriends Noah, with the intent to convince him to break up with Ginny, so that he will go back to Emma. So they hope.

Emma coerces Anne into consenting to have a threesome, with her and her new beau, a very-willing Logan. According to her plan, Anne would be uncomfortable with the situation and run back into the arms of the boring and sincere Peter. Anne tries to go through with the plan, even kissing Emma on the mouth while the two are in their underwear. However, she realizes she doesn’t want to participate. Running back into the arms of Peter, she claims that he is boring and uptight, and that’s okay.

A problematic theme throughout the movie is, what they claim is boring and uptight, is actually stable and life-affirming. Nefarious and immoral activities are a product of irrational thinking, or insanity.

Meanwhile, Peter convinces Noah to be his “wingman” at a wild night club. The two get drunk and go home with women, who are later revealed to be 17-year-old girls. At the home party, the otherwise boring Peter takes Ecstasy, drinks more alcohol and jumps out of a second story window into a hot tub. The drug-peppered party is busted up by the girl’s father. Peter and Noah run for their lives.

Peter’s plan backfires when Noah realizes he no longer wants to participate in sophomoric nonsense. He wants a meaningful relationship with a wife and children. Making matters worse for Emma, Noah proposes marriage to his new love, Ginny, and she accepts.

The viewer wonders, more than once, if the main characters were dumped for good reasons. The male lead is promoted as sincere and caring. However, he is also weak and has no moral compass. The female lead has no problem with her abhorrent behavior. There is some redemptive content, including the desire to find the right partner in life, family and some positive messages about sincerity. Perhaps what the main characters thought they wanted isn’t what they wanted after all.

I WANT YOU BACK is well-acted, with good chemistry between the main characters. There are also some funny moments. However, the movie is slow-moving and sometimes jumps, making the script feel like it’s patch-quilted together. The lies and deceitful measures eventually blow up in the lead characters’ faces, but the movie contains a lot of sexual content, including homosexual and bi-sexual content. I WANT YOU BACK also contains a main character who coerces a woman into having a “threesome,” and excessive vulgarity, including more than a dozen “f” words, none of which is rebuked. The movie is wrought with moral relativism. Sexually immoral behavior is never challenged. Rather, the movie takes a morally relative tone, with people saying, “It just isn’t meant to be” or “This behavior isn’t right for me.” I WANT YOU BACK is abhorrent and unacceptable.

The two jilted lovers deceive and “claw” to get what they want.

Watch I WANT YOU BACK →

Quality:

- Content: -4