The movie stars Charlie Day and Jenny Slate, and it's about two recently-dumped office workers who team up to wreck their ex's new relationships. If you've ever seen a rom-com you know exactly where this is going - the formulaic nature of the movie is evident even from the trailer or poster, and it's what put me off watching it initially.
The characters are spot on in terms of writing and performance, with idiosyncrasies that inform the characters and dialogue that becomes pertinent a surprising amount of the time - I've seen far too many comedies where the characters are quirky or exaggerated in an ill-informed attempt at humor and it rarely works.
One thing in particular that stood out to me is transitions. I love interesting transitions in movies , and I don't remember the last time I saw such amazing ones as here. A cut like that isn't just funny, skirting around what we expect, but it's smart writing. We skip all the awkward 'getting-to-know-you' parts, with the director having faith in the audience that we understand this happened off-camera, and can jump straight into comedy when the characters are better acquainted.I'm not ashamed in saying that I like romantic-comedies - there are some I absolutely love.
Because I Want You Back avoids loads of the pit-falls of weaker rom-coms, and is surprisingly funny too, it's easier to look past the fact that it's quite by-the-numbers in terms of overall structure.
Romantic Comedy 'I Want You Back'...You're welcome