by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
“What you see is what you get” is not always true when it comes to the movie business. I cannot begin to tell you how many incredible movie trailers I have seen that have completely mislead me. I thought Serenity was going to be one of the best movies of the year in 2019, and it was an all-time stink bomb. I thought Iron Claw this last weekend was gonna be on some Remember the Titans gameplan, but I was totally wrong and for all the better. When I saw the trailer and the advertising for Anyone But You, the new romcom starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, it looked to be a garbage romance where hot people walked around in tight clothes. Yes, those things happen, but let me tell you: It was better than a garbage rom-com.
Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) spent a night together a couple months ago. They weren’t dating then, definitely aren’t dating now, and frankly, they don’t have a positive opinion of each other. But when Bea’s sister is set to be married to one of Ben’s oldest friends, they’ll have to at least tolerate each other at the wedding. But wouldn’t you know it? Ben old’s flame Margaret (Charlee Fraser) is there, and isn’t sure how she feels about Ben now. Moreover, Beau’s boyfriend from her teen years and college, Jonathan (Darren Barnet), has been brought to the wedding by her parents (Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths) to set her up with him again. To benefit themselves, Ben and Beau decide to put their differences aside and pretend to date to just get everyone off their back. But maybe not everything is what it seems, and maybe there’s more than just fake feelings between these two.
Brass tacks, this movie works because Powell has IT and Sweeney is IT. Powell exudes such charisma that you can’t help but be won over by a charm. Even when he’s playing a “playboy,” he’s a lovable goof. There’s plenty of physical comedy in here too, like his dumb beach workouts, or his lack of swimming ability. After Top Gun: Maverick, it’s good to see this rising star is still moving in the right direction. On a similar note, Sweeney’s star just keeps on rising. At 26, she’s already been in a hit show in Euphoria. I always thought her dramatic roles had just the right amount of crazy, which makes me think she has more range than one would think. Seeing her in Anyone But You solidifies that notion a bit. While Powell has the better dialogue written for him, Sweeney holds her own. There’s more than a few fun physical bits she has, including one plane seating scene. Her comebacks are savage as well.
While every rom-com can have jokes, can you actually get us to care about these star-crossed lovers. Normally that’s where these movies fall short: Either one of the romantic leads has done something unforgivable, or both Romeo and Juliet are despicable/stupid people. Nothing like that happens here. There are no irredeemable leads, just two young folks trying to get past their flaws. Ben has never felt able to open up to someone, and Bea just wants to find someone different than what she has been used to her whole life. Getting over those expectations brings them closer together in a great way. It’s incredibly easy to root for these two.
Big props go to director Will Gluck as well. He’s really building out his romcom resume between this, Easy A, and Friends with Benefits. His dialogue feels effortless, while still maintaining a great sense of comedy throughout thanks to the screenplay he penned with Ilana Wolpert. The guy knows how to pull relatable performances out of his leads, too. Now, granted, he has had great talent to work with, like Emma Stone, Mila Kunis, and Justin Timberlake, but credit is owed because I’ve seen Timberlake be crappy in movies before. Add Sweeney and Powell to the names on that list. I’ll give Gluck some credit here, too, because it would have been easy for him to just linger lustily on our co-stars, but he doesn’t.
The trailers and advertisement made this movie look like it was dead on arrival. Of course, the stars couldn’t promote it like the producers probably wanted because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, but it looked like it was primed to be a garbage fire. On top of that, it came out at a rough time of year, when awards movies and end-of-year box office kings are fighting for attention. But now that it’s come out and gotten some solid reviews I hope it gets a second life on a streaming service. So what makes me happy about Anyone But You is that it was better than my expectations going into it.
Rating: Liked It
Anyone But You is currently playing in theaters
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