Peter: Look at us. This is like Cruel Intentions, only sexier.
Emma: How is it sexier?
Emma: How is it sexier?
I Want You Back is a 2022 Romantic Comedy directed by Jason Orley from a screenplay by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger (This Is Us).
Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) were dumped by their respective significant others, Anne (Gina Rodriguez) and Noah (Scott Eastwood), on the same weekend. After meeting in their office building, Peter and Emma commiserate about their exes' new romances. They devise a scheme to get their partners back: Emma will seduce Anne's new boyfriend, drama teacher Logan (Manny Jacinto), while Peter will befriend Noah and sabotage his relationship with piemaker Ginny (Clark Backo).
The film was released on February 11, 2022 on Prime Video.
Tropes:
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: Peter's grandmother stayed in a retirement home in the last years of her life. He described it as a sad, smelly old building with terrible food and bad movies, and is the reason he wants to found his own cozy retirement home.
- The Cameo: During the scene in Leighton's house, Pete Davidson and Ben McKenzie briefly show up as a drug dealer and Leighton's father, respectively.
- Helping Granny Cross the Street: After a group of skateboarders zoom past them, Peter helps an old woman carrying food to a table, who praises him for it. He tells Emma that the irony is that he wanted to help old people (to the point of getting an MPH), but wound up working for a soulless nursing home instead.
- Hunk: Noah, played by Scott Eastwood, a buff gym trainer who is described as 'classically handsome' and 'looks like a superhero'.
- The Immodest Orgasm: Emma and Peter hear Emma's roommates Paul and Lisa having sex through the wall, which only gets louder as both of them approach climax, including Paul loudly asking where Emma wants "his love".Peter: I think that was the finale.
- Nice Guys Finish Last: Played With. Emma doesn't think funny everyman Peter can seduce Ginny, and Peter doesn't protest. He contrasts himself to the 'classically handsome' and muscular gym trainer Noah and mentions that girls in high school would always tell him he was such a good friend. However, Emma later tells him that being the kind of guy you would fall in love slowly is rarer and better than being a "one-night bang".
- Outclassed at the Gym: As part of his pact with Emma to sabotage their exes' new relationships, the schlubby everyman Peter signs up to exercise at the gym where Emma's ex Noah works as a trainer. Peter immediately notes how much hunkier and how much more handsome Noah is compared to him.
- Pocket Dial: Noah accidentally butt-dials his ex-girlfriend while at a club.
- Ready for Lovemaking: Peter suggests sneaking up to Noah's cabin in the woods and seducing him by lying naked on a rug:Peter: We send Noah a note from Ginny that says, "Meet me at my grandmother's cabin for a weekend of fishing, maybe a little bit of fun." But when he gets there, you are there, and you're lying naked on a bearskin rug...
Emma: Oh.
Peter: And you say, "I knew you'd come."
Emma: What? But he didn't know what he was coming to. - School Play: Logan's middle-schoolers are putting on a production of Little Shop of Horrors, and Emma volunteers to help with rehearsals in order to seduce the drama teacher. However, being forced to stand in for Audrey during the dress rehearsal proves to be cathartic for her.
- A Threesome Is Hot: As part of her scheme to break up Logan and Anne, Emma propositions them for a threesome, correctly pegging that aspiring auteur Logan would be into it and the territorial Anne wouldn't, despite the latter's desire to become a freespirited artist.
- Third Wheel: Emma lives with a pair of college sweethearts who don't hesitate to be affectionate in both private and public, which rankles her.
