First movie of 2024 let’s go!! Starting the new year of movies off on a light note. I will pretty much always be interested in a romcom. There’s been a push in recent years to “bring back the romcom” and I am absolutely here for it. It started with Netflix putting out The Kissing Booth, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Set It Up in 2018 to great success (2 out of 3 of those hold up). And then the other streamers got involved. And then there were so many “romcoms” that the quality just wasn’t there anymore. All of the new ones feel a lot more like bad Lifetime movies than anything else. But now, the major studios want a piece of the action. And that’s what should happen. Give romcoms the big studio budgets they deserve! Take two up-and-coming stars, fly them to a beautiful location, and make them fall in love. The formula is that simple. 

I love Sydney Sweeney from Euphoria, I love Glen Powell from previously mentioned romcom Set It Up, and I love the genre. So needless to say, I was in on this movie from the second it was announced. But from announcement to release has been a bit of a rocky road. I wouldn’t put this movie on the level of Don’t Worry Darling in terms of media and Deuxmoi speculation, but there were no shortage of rumors from the set that carried all the way through to the current PR campaign. What’s a romcom without some gossip about a potential off-camera romance between the two leads? And when those actors are both in relationships with other people? And then one of those couples breaks up? And then the two actors continue to fiercely flirt with each throughout the press tour? That only creates even more buzz. Is it real? Is it PR for the movie? I honestly don’t care. Either way I’m entertained. Like with Don’t Worry Darling, the rumors just made me even more interested in seeing the film that led to all this controversy. 

And then finally, the trailer came out. This has been a running theme for me lately where my excitement for a movie is dampened by a terrible trailer. [Sidenote: Can the trailer industry get it together? Because I love a movie trailer. Honestly, more often than not, a trailer is better than the actual movie – see: Suicide Squad. Creating a trailer really is an art and should be done well. A good trailer helps with the hype and these bad trailers are doing such a disservice to their films.] The trailer for this movie looked so awful, I was really worried. But I still wanted to give it a shot anyway. And I was relieved to discover that it was actually pretty good.

Were there plot holes? Yes. Were there stupid moments? Yes. Were there corny lines of dialogue? Of course! But nothing that rose to the level of impacting my overall enjoyment of the movie. This movie was exactly what I needed on a Friday night after a long, stressful day of work: an hour and 45 minutes where I could turn off my brain. It was funny (I definitely laughed out loud a lot in the theater), it was sweet, it was aspirational, and it was fun. 

I think the main thing that didn’t work for me was the Shakespeare of it all. For those who don’t know, there is a specific sub-genre of teen comedies/romcoms that are supposed to be modern re-imagingings of Shakespeare plays or other classic literature. These movies include 10 Things I Hate About You (based on The Taming of the Shrew), She’s the Man (based on Twelfth Night), Clueless (based on Emma), Easy A (based on The Scarlet Letter and also the director of that movie, Will Gluck, directed this movie), and the list goes on. While I’m sure most of you have seen or at least heard of all of these movies, I don’t know how many of you knew they were based on other works. And I think that’s okay. That’s not the point of the movies. You can still enjoy them whether you know the source material or not. Anyone But You is a re-imagining of Much Ado About Nothing. I don’t have a problem with this movie continuing in the legacy of the other films in this sub-genre. I just think they leaned into it a little bit too hard. Most of the films have subtle nods to the source texts in the names of characters and places, (like in She’s the Man the school is named Illyria like the region in the play and Channing Tatum’s character’s name is Duke Orsino instead of being a Duke whose name is Orsino… you get the point) which this movie does too, (it bothered me that the two main characters in this movie were named “Ben” and “Bea” because they’re such similar names until I realized it was based on a play and the original characters are named “Benedick” and “Beatrice” so I guess I can’t be too mad at that) but Anyone But You goes the extra mile and includes quotes from the play peppered throughout the film both visually on the screen and in the dialogue. It just felt unnecessary and also really out of place if you don’t know the background. But honestly, thats a small gripe with a mostly otherwise enjoyable film.

I already mentioned the stars of the film, but I need to talk about them again. As one review put it, “Sweeney and Powell are distractingly attractive.” Extremely accurate. It actually made the movie almost not believable because how could two people who look like these people have any problems in love or in life? I think I actually gasped involuntarily the first time Glen Powell appeared on the screen. He looks so good in this movie and is charming as ever. He’s a fantastic romcom leading man, he already proved that in Set It Up (which everyone should go watch), and I want to see him do more of these. More Glen Powell always. I haven’t seen everything Sydney Sweeney has ever been in but this might be her first non-serious acting role. Euphoria really showcases her dramatic acting between the screaming and crying and crazy eyes (not to minimize her performance in any way because it’s insanely good) and The White Lotus let her have a very dry, dark humor, but Anyone But You is the first time I’ve seen her laugh and smile lightheartedly and do physical comedy on screen. I thought she was great and really funny! She’s one of those people in real life who is extremely annoying because she is just good at absolutely everything and is also stunning. So that’s great for her. The two of them might have more chemistry on their press tour for the movie than in the actual movie, but I did buy it in the film. And there were definitely moments it looked a little too real to me and I thought to myself, “they totally hooked up”. I want to be on record saying I would fully support their real-life relationship because they are beautiful people who look great together and clearly have a connection. But if Sydney Sweeney chooses to stay with her fiancé, I would happily date Glen Powell in her place.

The rest of the cast includes Paxton Hall-Yoshida (!!!!) (real name Darren Barnet) from Never Have I Ever who I also love but really didn’t have much to do here and GaTa who people may know from Dave and is really, really funny in this movie. The side characters are mostly irrelevant and underwritten. It’s clear this is Sydney and Glen’s movie.

A more negative review of this movie said, “It’s a film that doesn’t strive to break new ground but rather comfortably sits in established norms.” But, to me, that’s not necessarily a negative. And especially not here. You can’t “bring back the romcom” without falling back on some tried and true tropes. I’m sure there are some really talented filmmakers out there who could make a movie that is fresh and new and pushes the envelope while still feeling like a classic romcom. And I’d be happy to see that movie! But I’m also happy to see this one. Something that feels comfortable. That’s easy to watch and digest. That’s fun and entertaining and doesn’t try to be anything more. No, this is definitely not the greatest movie ever. Nor is it the greatest romcom. But it has hot people in a beautiful place (one day I will make it to Australia!), some laugh-out-loud comedy, a really fun soundtrack (I won’t spoil the fantastic song choice that is pivotal in the movie – hint: another song by this artist is iconic in another movie mentioned in this post. That’s just a fun fact.), and good chemistry. If nothing else, I would call it a satisfying entry into the romcom genre.

2024 Count: 1 season, 1 movie