'Anyone But You' Review: Mid Ado About Nothing
Anyone But You
R: Language throughout, sexual content and brief graphic nudity.
Runtime: 1 Hour and 43 Minutes
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Roth/Kirschenbaum Films, SK Global, Fifty-Fifty Films, Olive Bridge Entertainment
Distributor: Sony
Director: Will Gluck
Writer: Ilana Wolpert
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, Darren Barnet, Bryan Brown, Rachel Griffiths
Release Date: December 22, 2023
Exclusively In Theaters
These days, the rom-com genre is either streamer fodder or only gets to live in international territories. I would've seen Rye Lane in a theater if I were British. Sony, however, decided to put on their clown noses this year and release the mid-budget studio R-rated rom-coms that are hard to come by in theaters. They dropped the J. Law-led vehicle No Hard Feelings earlier this year. Now, under their go-to man Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends With Benefits, those way too darn good Peter Rabbit movies), they have certified hot tamales Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney starring in a modern update of Much Ado About Nothing for the Gen-Z crowd with Anyone But You. With the terrible 40-second teaser that played before the T. Swizzle concert movie, I assumed this movie would suck. It didn't to the extent I thought it would, but it fell below average as far as broad R-rated studio rom-coms go.
Boston University Law student Bea (Sydney Sweeney) has a meet-cute with Goldman Sachs finance bro Ben (Glen Powell) at a coffee shop, stirring an instantaneous first date. After a romantic evening together, a misunderstanding between the two leaves them scorned.
Months pass, and Bea's sister, Halle (Hadley Robinson), gets engaged to Ben's best friend Pete's (GaTa) sister, Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), and they all trek to Australia for the wedding. Ben and Bea cross paths but also have a handful of problems to deal with (besides each other). Bea's issue lies with her parents (Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths), who don’t know she dropped out of college. They also invite her ex-fiance Jonathan (Darren Barnet) to convince them to rekindle their relationship. For Ben, it's his Margaret (Charlee Fraser), for whom he has lingering feelings. Bea and Ben make a pact to pretend they're together to help each other get what they want. But what if what they truly want is each other?
That Glen Powell fellow. You can put that man against a brick wall, and he would still generate endless chemistry with it. And I'd be seated knowing he'd deliver a charming performance. I don't know if there's a charisma super-serum Powell is running off of, but do they sell it in bulk? I need it. In every project he stars in—Set It Up, Top Gun: Maverick, the upcoming Hit Man movie that I wish was in theaters rather than on Netflix—Powell radiates peak star power. He can portray an egregiously annoying prick, like Ben, but Powell's base energy and comedic timing elevate Anyone But You.
It's nice to see Sydney Sweeney add something silly to her repertoire. As Bea, she must perform physical comedy, a Will Gluck prerequisite and a departure from her usual roles. She sells those moments mighty well. How can I be mad over a movie that homages the Mr. Bean bit where he tries to dry his wet fly area with an air dryer, but the gender is reversed? Equality, baby! Plus, her big old Victorian doll eyes add to great reaction moments. However, she is only suited for a typical rom-com role if it's in a satirical indie picture rather than an energetic studio one. She has a deadpan voice best suited for a Diablo Cody project where she plays a misanthrope.
Despite not being as bad as I expected, Anyone But You arrives like streamer fodder. Yay, a studio brought back the 2000s silly broad studio comedy, but I'm not one to award mediocrity when its algorithmic writing is all over it. Even if it's a modern update of Much Ado About Nothing, with excerpts from the book added to the background and production design, it applies millennial-lingo coating across the text. There’s a scene where Ben describes something as cringe, and Bea's rebuttal is, "Saying something is cringe is cringe, old man," and my skin crawled.
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney are mismatched, and it's not due to them but to their screenplay, leaving them with little material to work with. I'm numb to the misunderstanding trope used as the conflict for two characters you know will bang, but Anyone But You's is most egregious.
Ben and Bea have an instantaneous first date that goes so well that they fall asleep on the couch together. Bea wakes up and leaves without notice, hurting Ben. As she returns to right her mindless wrong, she overhears Ben deflecting his emotions by talking shit about her to his friend Pete. Hence their mutual haterade. It's a baseless setup that seems like a farce they play straightforwardly. Because of its mediocre setup, the banter between Ben and Bea hardly feels natural; at best, it's childish.
Compared to Ben, Bea is a relatable character with a decent arc. Granted, it's the same old "20-something who doesn't know what to do with their life but doesn't tell their overbearing parents," done exceedingly better in other movies. Earlier this year, the peak rom-com flick Rye Lane did this exceptionally. But, when those beats occur, Sweeney's dramatic strengths kick in, adding to Bea's humanity with earnestness. Ben, however, has nothing to him at all. There are few traits to his character outside of, well, fuckboi (but with dead mom issues).
I respect the movie's attempt to be silly and fun, especially since it's from Will Gluck, who once again incorporates his love for Natasha Bedingfield into his filmography. Still, hot people telling bad jokes don't equate to a passable comedy. It’s not even worth those dating rumors that stirred over the summer.
Powell and Sweeney are FINE in Anyone But You, a modernized farce on Much Ado About Nothing coated with studio R-rated sensibility and little wit. They have fun chemistry and banter but are shrouded in algorithmic writing and shoddy editing that undermines funny punchlines.
