Reverse ‘Parent Trap’
Emma (Jenny Slate) and Peter (Charlie Day) are complete strangers working in the same healthcare building. They both get unexpectedly dumped by their respective significant others, Noah (Scott Eastwood) and Anne (Gina Rodriguez), on the same weekend. Back at work, neither Emma nor Peter can keep it together, and they surreptitiously rush to the stairwell for some discreet, cathartic bawling. And guess who they run into?
“You have mascara all over your face,” Peter tells Emma. “You have, like, a piece of toilet paper … or something,” says Emma. They agree to meet and share their mutual dumpee experiences; it’s the epitome of misery loving company.
During a drunken karaoke session, they reveal to one another that they are terrified of being in their 30s and losing their shots at ever finding “The One.” As neither one wants to start over, Emma labels them the “sadness sisters,” and they devise a “Parent Trap”-like plot (or is it “Much Ado About Nothing"?) to win their special people back. They will fiendishly find a way to trash their exes’ new relationships, causing their beloveds to run like scalded dogs back into their waiting arms, with newfound appreciation. Let the lying and sneaking about begin!
How do they break up their exes? Peter hires Noah as his personal trainer, while Emma volunteers for a production of “Little Shop of Horrors” at the middle school where Anne works, which her new boyfriend (Manny Jacinto) happens to be directing. Yes, Emma’s ploy is barely realistic but, you know, it’s rom-com land.
Their Lives Beyond Their Love Lives
Peter’s crisis is somewhat more urgent than Emma’s. He’s at that stage where all his friends have kids and happy careers, while he’s at a company he can’t stand, which features endless board meetings focused on how to quietly defund healthcare for the elderly. Peter’s life-vision is to open a good nursing home.Emma is stuck in the post-college drifting phase of working a survival job (answering the phone at an orthodontist’s office), with two pre-med college roommates who are in an annoying, er, loud, relationship. Her situation prompts Peter to gift her “What Color Is Your Parachute.”
The rom-com genre trope that’s always in danger of becoming clichéd is The Universe Reveals Its Plan While You’re Looking the Other Way. When done correctly—as in “When Harry Met Sally” (about characters who form a believable bond), or “While You Were Sleeping” (about characters with unfulfilled dreams), or “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (about characters who create a messy web of sabotage)—it can work like a charm.
“Wait a second, what am I stressing about, this is like, Josh. Okay, okay ... What would he want with Ty, she couldn’t make him happy, Josh needs someone with imagination, someone to take care of him, someone to laugh at his jokes in case he ever makes any ... then suddenly ... (pause) Oh my god! I love Josh!”
In “I Want You Back,” you can never not see it coming. That said, Day and Slate, after years of being typecast in quirky, wisecracking supporting roles, get a chance to shine. Hopefully, their next projects will be shinier.
