There are certain genres in Hollywood that seem to die only to be revived when a hit comes along. For example, in the 1940s through the1960s westerns were everywhere. Then no one made westerns or if they did, they were box office poison. Then Kevin Costner made Dances With Wolves in 1990 which made nearly half a billion dollars and westerns were suddenly viable again for a short while (although even Costner couldn't revive it again with his Horizons which bombed just recently). Same thing with musicals which were the toast of Hollywood and yet went away for a while until La La Land made its splash in 2016.
The latest genre that has fallen victim to possible extinction, at least at the movie theatre, would be the romantic comedy. With event pictures taking all of the space at your local cineplex, there just isn't room for mid-budget romantic comedies anymore except for on streamers. Jennifer Aniston, Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock, and Owen Wilson have tried to keep its head above water but with mixed results.
Then along comes Anyone But You. A film that takes two very attractive up-and-coming actors, Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, and puts them in the skimpiest bathing suits they can find. It makes over $200 million on a $20 million budget, and now rom-coms are back in business. That doesn't mean this one is any good though.
Everyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy knows how they end. It is never a "will they or won't they". It is always a "how they". The journey is what matters, and the journey for this one is a bit contrived. It starts with the meet cute. Sweeney's character Bea is at a Panera Bread-like place and needs to use the bathroom badly. They won't let her unless she buys something which means waiting in a long line. This is when Powell's Ben steps in as the knight in shining armor, posing as her boyfriend and buying something, allowing her to get access to the bathroom key.
They decide to spend the entire day together and Bea even sleeps over plutonically of course. When the morning comes she slips out the back door, hurting Ben. He speaks his frustration to his roommate which Bea, who has come back, overhears, causing her to be hurt. They never see each other again.
That is until the unlikeliest of coincidences that only happen in rom-coms where in a city the size of Boston, it just so happens her sister is marrying his roommate's sister. Now they are playing the rom-com from the angle that they can't stand one another.
Everyone is invited to the wedding which is going to take place in Sydney, Australia. This is where all of the secondary characters made up of wacky family members get to make their appearance to liven up the story. There is Bryan Brown, Dermot Mulroney (who for some reason keeps getting work), and Rachel Griffiths who ironically is really Australian but is playing an American. Go figure. Also invited is Bea's ex-boyfriend who her parents love and are trying to get her back together with, and Ben's old flame who he wants another chance with.
That is when Bea and Ben strike a rom-com pact to act like a couple in order to A) keep Bea's parents off her back about dating her old boyfriend, and B) make Ben's former girlfriend jealous so she will want him back.
At this point the movie has not used one, but three rom-com devices in order to propel its story and three overused ones at that. It would have been better to find one good one instead. This is not to say the movie does not have its moments. It is nearly impossible for Glen Powell not to be charming. He just oozes it, even when playing a cocky prick. It is easy to see why he is beginning to break out as a star and one wonders what took so long. As for Sweeney, I was always told if you can't say anything nice, then, well, you know. The dynamic between Bryan Brown and his son played by GaTa is funny. They are trying to get Ben and Bea together and put on these ridiculous 2-person scenes. Alexandra Shipp is always a sight to behold and the Australian scenery is almost as beautiful.
But there is not enough here to sustain a movie. These are merely distractions until we can get to that inevitable ending. And when we finally get there, I couldn't help but be angry at the waste of tax dollars when a simple taxi would have sufficed.
Now keep in mind, I am happy that this movie was able to revitalize the rom-com. This is a worthwhile genre and some of my favorite films fall into this category. But this is the problem with streaming and the reason why websites like this one are needed. Five years ago Powell was in a far superior rom-com called Set It Up with a far superior adversary played by Zoey Deutch. It should have made him a star five years ago. But it came out on Netflix which means only people with that service could see it and even then there was no guarantee they were going to find it. It is too easy for films to get lost in the literal shuffle of a streaming service.
If you want to see a rom-com worthy of your time watch Set It Up or another hilarious Netflix rom-com Always Be My Maybe with Randall Park and Ali Wong. They give rom-coms a good name worthy of resurrecting.
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