From the outside, director Will Gluck's Anyone But You looks like it could make for the perfect concoction of chemistry overload we’ve seen in the best romantic comedies of the past. The story itself is loosely based on a William Shakespeare classic Much Ado About Nothing, taking a page out of the playbook of favorites like 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s The Man, which modernized classic stories for the beloved genre.
Release Date: December 22, 2023
Directed By: Will Gluck
Written By: Ilana Wolpert & Will Gluck
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, Darren Barnet & Rachel Griffiths
Rating: R, for language, sexual content, and brief graphic nudity
Runtime: 104 minutes
Under the direction of the Easy A and Friends With Benefits director, the new release also brings together two actors oozing with charisma between Top Gun: Maverick’s “Hangman” actor Glen Powell and Euphoria’s magnetic Sydney Sweeney. But in the case of Anyone But You, all those exciting ingredients become cancelled out by a rather basic story that’s too plain and stale to catch one off guard in a way that big screen love stories like this should.
This has been a unique year when it feels like big-screen studio comedies could be becoming cool again between titles like Barbie, No Hard Feelings, Joy Ride and Bottoms making for fun theatrical laugh fests. However, Anyone But You is unfortunately not one of those flicks for which it's necessarily worth returning to theaters in droves. Sure, there are the gorgeous sweeping landscapes of Sydney, Australia and two of the most classically good-looking stars working in Hollywood right now, but if you’re looking to dive deep with this on-screen couple, get ready for your eyes to wander.
Sydney Sweeney And Glen Powell are great picks for rom-com leads, but something’s left to be desired with the pairing.
Anyone But You follows two destination wedding guests with a checkered history in Glen Powell’s Ben and Sydney Sweeney’s Bea. After the pair had a one-night stand that left them both sour sometime ago, they find themselves having to spend a lot of time together in picturesque Sydney as the Best Man and Maid of Honor in a wedding. Bea’s sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) is tying the knot with Ben’s best friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), and as soon, as the pair lock eyes, it’s clear they still hold grudges against one another along with some leftover sexual tension.
At the same time, Ben has his eyes on his ex-girlfriend Margaret (Charlee Fraser) whilst Bea’s parents are hellbent on getting her hitched to her ex-boyfriend Jonathan (Darren Barnet) – who they’ve invited without her permission. After a series of inciting incidents, Ben and Bea decide to pretend to be infatuated with one another ahead of the wedding in hopes that Ben can make Margaret jealous and Bea can get her parents off her back.
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney are equally great in the framework of the romantic comedy genre, but their dynamic doesn’t add up somehow. Powell takes on a textbook player with an underlying sweetness to be uncovered, while Sweeney is a strong-willed bombshell afraid to grapple with her lack of direction. Perhaps what’s wrong here is the script wants us to believe they are wrong for each other, when from the first frame they share, it’s rather too obvious any disgust for each other is all an act.
Anyone But You suffers the most from a lazy script and an uneven tone.
Anyone But You centrally has a problem with telling the audience what we should feel about the circumstances that are occurring rather than actually showing us. It breaks a basic golden rule of writing and therein the script as a whole comes off weak and lazy. Additionally, there seems to be confusion within the tone of the movie about whether to lean into its cheesy romantic comedy elements or be a raunchy comedy with romance in it. In terms of its romantic comedy direction, it often glosses over those magical moments that can make a movie feel like falling in love, and on the R-rated front, the bits aren't daring enough to justify how the marketing has leaned into that element.
Anyone But You also misses a ton of opportunities to add depth to its characters. While there are moments between Ben and Bea that could generate a more genuinely sweet conversation about grappling one’s fear of commitment and past self-sabotage in relationships, the rom-com loving audience will surely be one step ahead of the script and even longing for beats that could have been hit but were simply ignored. Sadly, Anyone But You takes the obvious story route most of the time, and that makes for an unsatisfying viewing.
It’s not one of the greats, but there’s some harmless by-the-numbers fun to be had.
There are a few sort of fun bits – particularly those featuring the wedding party as they try to set up Ben and Bea in outrageous ways. There’s also a standout scene on a yacht as the fake couple end up reenacting Titanic by accident while trying to convince their family of their romance. Also, between a hilarious sing-a-long sequence and goofy koala scene, it’s absolutely clear that the entire cast had an absolute blast making this movie and want you to join in their light (albeit forgettable) joy, too.
While Anyone But You isn’t breaking any new ground here, it’s also regrettable it couldn’t fully deliver as a transportive romantic comedy in a landscape where new classics from the genre are few and far between. If you’re content with ignoring these rom-com red flags and strapping in for a rather vanilla R-rated comedy, the film is not completely without its merit.
