'Anyone But You' Review: A Quintessential Modern Rom-Com
There is a revival taking place in the arts, right this moment. A phoenix rising from the ashes of a bygone generation, returning once more to claim its rightful place in the minds and hearts of those who once knew it, as well as those who don’t, yet must. An essential cornerstone of the cinematic landscape; immortal, ever-present. This is, of course, the rom-com.
You may think that sounds ridiculous, but go watch 10 Things I Hate About You or When Harry Met Sally and try to leave unchanged (no chance.) Romantic comedies just work. Even when it seems boring, corny, or even just straight-up lame, they’ll hit you with a wide shot of a city at sunset and some slow-song needle drop and, all the sudden, you’re hooked. Every. Single. Time.
Anyone But You, in spite of some worrying trailers, turns the corner with the aforementioned wide city shot and ends up checking all the boxes. We’ve seen a few recognizable rom-com hits in the last few years, such as the inarguable La La Land or the less known yet worthy of a watch, Set it Up (also starring Glen Powell), but the genre has undoubtedly taken a dive in both production and popularity since its heyday in the early 2000’s.
It seems to be a widely adopted ideal that, most often, the films simply do not feel the same. Long gone are the days of The Notebook; a film like that one that straight-up dominates the box office and immediately cements itself as a piece of the social-cinematic culture moving forward. These sorts of things hardly happen now, if at all, and the rom-com crowd has certainly dwindled in past years, along with the aforementioned equivalent dip in production. Many have stopped trying.
Yet, Anyone But You’s box office success suggests a rising second interest of-sorts among audiences; there’s quite a case to be made yet for the rom-com. Director Will Gluck is on his (Easy) A-game here, and why wouldn’t he be? With a few genre hits under his belt, he’s just going around the bend once again with this one. That doesn’t mean it isn’t unique, just that his experience is prevalent here. He helms the big beats with easygoing class, letting the film break out and loosen up when need be, too. It’s a balancing act achieved well, and is the basis for all the rest the film is able to accomplish as a result.
Glen Powell, as noted, has some rom-com experience, and he’s right at home in this one, too. The real win is Sydney Sweeney, who slides onto the genre scene as if she’d built it in the first place. She’s incredible across from Powell, for sure, but her performance stands alone as the most versatile in the film. She soars to the highs, dips to the lows, and tips the scale into balance between them; it’d be a shame if this was her last rom-com endeavor. Sweeney and Powell are also outright hysterical beyond the technicalities. Really, the film is a riot.
Gluck isn’t afraid to take it over the top for the sake of momentary jokes, though no matter how short, many of them make the film. Slices of awkward, almost reality-television like comedy stick out like quartz among coals in the laugh-less struggles of the genre as it often operates today. He’s well-aware of the heavy hitters, too, bringing them back twice and thrice for repeated right hooks bound to leave you breathless by the credits. Again, a total riot.
And where there are laughs, there’s an equal helping of heart; Anyone But You, in checking all the boxes, is gonna rip your heart out as quickly as it ropes you in. The leads really settle into the third act and deliver a string of incredibly compelling payoffs; it’s the classic “go get her” sort of ending, but again, it works so darn well.
Anyone But You is the sort of movie that certainly has problems, but you hate complaining about them. Why would you? The experience buries them almost immediately after they’re surfaced with an expertly distracting charm every single time. For the sake of review, they’re worth mentioning, but when you eventually go back to this one you’d be remiss to dwell on the negatives.
Either way, this is a thin screenplay. Not a bad one; it hits all the necessary beats and leaves plenty of space for the big moments to breathe. Yet, it’s always clear when the writers hit a wall and had to throw together a makeshift ladder to scale it. There are a multitude of moments that feel rushed, and out of place; certainly a result of fighting to get to the end goal without all the necessary pieces. There is a feeling of incompleteness to the film, almost like it was a draft or two away from rom-com-fection (if you will.)
Nobody expected this to be perfect, especially prior to release, but considering how good it turned out the gap in potential that remains is bound to leave a bitter taste. Anyone But You isn’t a modern classic, but it legitimately had the ingredients to be. Still, it’s hard to so harshly stick to it the blame, as it may very well represent a re-indoctrination in the current public into the genre, renewing interest and revitalizing storytellers to tackle the topic of love in this way once again.
Anyone (especially you) and everyone should give this one a chance. People are flocking to it in droves for a reason; it’s pure fun of the calculated sort. Gluck, Powell and Sweeney respectively command a definitionally quintessential blockbuster and romantic comedy; it didn’t have to be flawless, but it should be impossible not to enjoy. It’s the sort to buy on blu-ray on pop in on a rainy summer night a few years down the road, popcorn and tissues in hand.