DISCLAIMER: This review contains minor spoilers about “Anyone But You”
As we watched Glen Powell strip completely nude, tossing his entire outfit off the side of a cliff, it’s safe to say that we had not seen that coming. Other than the whole plot, the entirety of “Anyone But You” was unexpected.
The R-rated film, directed by Will Gluck, is inspired by Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” In both, two soon-to-be-wed lovers conspire to set up a friend and a cousin (two separate people) in an attempt to put a stop to the two’s constant bickering. The movie was advertised to be a modern remake of this infamous play in the style of a classic 2000s rom-com like “When Harry Met Sally” or “You’ve Got Mail.” As two rom-com fanatics, we had understandably high expectations.
We waited for that magic, giddy feeling that appears when you watch two people in a rom-com fall in love, but it never came. “Anyone But You” had countless romance tropes and therefore had innumerable opportunities to portray cute romantic moments between the characters. Ben and Bea are faking a relationship at a destination wedding, while being enemies, meaning they’re in forced proximity. For classic rom-com lovers, this set-up should have been a gold mine for silly yet romantic content.
Yet, Bea-Ben (our self-proclaimed ship name for them) content was scarce and in scenes that had romantic potential, they were often flipped into ridiculous gag moments that eventually fell flat. For example, while BeaBea is on a yacht, they attempt the classic Titanic pose in front of their friends and family to convince them of their “relationship.” Instead of being a sweet little tidbit of whimsy and romance, this scene was awkward and uncomfortable. But the punchline of this moment is Ben diving into Sydney Harbour after he accidentally knocks Bea in. Despite his previously mentioned poor swimming capabilities, (he’s “hot girl fit!”) Ben doesn’t hesitate to jump in after her. While this “heroic” moment could have been seen as a romantic gesture, it was such a foolish and silly decision that it ended up just feeling forced.
Directly following this scene, the general romantic predicament actually did improve after being stranded together on a buoy as they worked out their misunderstandings, but this failed to help us, as the audience. We still couldn’t understand why they liked each other so much because we didn’t like them. Bea had no personality other than not knowing what to do with her life after dropping out of law school, and Ben was just… a man. Neither of them did anything particularly romantic for the other, if you ignore Ben’s failed rescue attempt. Because of the generic and sometimes flat-out boring characters and plot, we weren’t giggling and kicking our legs by the end, which violated our number one criteria for a great rom-com.
Despite the lackluster romance plot and characters, the cast was incredible, especially for such a mid-budget movie. The movie stars Sydney Sweeney, a recently acclaimed actress, known for her debut role as Cassie in Euphoria, and Glen Powell, who recently played Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin in Top Gun: Maverick. Both leads have some incredibly palpable chemistry, both on and off-screen, the latter of which has perpetuated a few internet rumors about their relationship. It certainly doesn’t hurt that both co-stars are incredibly attractive, even by today’s critical standards.
However, to a ridiculous extent, “Anyone But You” tries to capitalize off of the innate chemistry and physicality of its entire cast by featuring an excessive amount of nudity. The majority of the film takes place on an Australian beach, meaning it’s reasonable-ish that more than most of the characters are permanently half-naked. However, within the first ten minutes or so, we were granted a full and fully unnecessary, topless shot of Charlee Fraser. While “Anyone But You” is rated R, meaning that sexual content is permitted, our issue with these brief flashes of nudity was that they served no real purpose, often serving as little more than jumpscares. They barely contributed to characterizations and not at all to the plot. So if you’re looking for a cute and funny rom-com to watch with your parents…maybe pass on this one.
Although we’ve done nothing but dog on this movie, it’s important to note that our standards for romance are fairly high due to the wide variety of romance novels and movies we have consumed in the past few years. Despite its shortcomings, the lighthearted comedy combined with beautiful summer aesthetics and a soundtrack featuring Olivia Rodrigo, Mac Miller and Dominic Fike definitely makes it a fun watch on a 2-hour flight to your vacation destination. But sadly, it wasn’t perfect. Indeed, this movie certainly did not go above and beyond, compared to some of the highly acclaimed rom-coms of the past, but it definitely would have done better without the promotional hype.
Perhaps they took the title of Shakespeare’s work too literally because “Anyone But You” turned out to be much ado about nothing — an unnecessary drama about nothing of importance, leaving audiences wanting more from this lackluster romantic comedy.
