“The Idea of You”
Director: Michael Showalter
Starring: Anne Hathaway (“The Devil Wears Prada”), Nicholas Galitzine (“Red, White & Royal Blue”), Ella Rubin (“The Girl from Plainville”) and Reid Scott (“Veep”)
Synopsis: Solène Marchand is a single mother who goes to a music festival with her daughter to see the biggest boy band in the world, August Moon. Unexpectedly, she meets the lead singer of the group, Hayes Campbell who instantly becomes infatuated with her. This leads into a love affair where they experience the exhilarating feeling of falling in love but the price that comes with fame and unwanted attention.
Review: The first time I heard of “The Idea of You” director, Michael Showalter when I watched the highly underrated romantic comedy satire, “They Came Together” which he co-wrote the silly, yet clever film that parodied classic and cliched romantic comedy tropes. Ironically, it showed that he does not hate the genre, in fact, he loves it and followed up with a series of very solid, endearing and funny rom-coms like: The Big Sick, The Lovebirds and most recently, Spoiler Alert.
Honestly, when reading the synopsis of “The Idea of You,” it didn’t necessarily sound like something I would be interested in. Even in my screening, I noticed I was the odd one out, around fans of the novel this film is based on (written by actress/author, Robinne Lee) who talked amongst themselves about who they pictured in the roles or how excited and nervous they were if this was to be a true-to-the-book adaptation. However, it wasn’t long until I started to understand why people were in love with the book.
The thing that immediately grabbed me was the performances and the chemistry between the leads, Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. A good rom-com depends heavily on if you believe in the relationship forming on screen and I really did believe these characters were in love. They portrayed these characters as layered and complicated humans trying to navigate this complex love affair. Through intimate and emotional conversations, it really made you root for them.
This also means to give props to the writing. The script was written by Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt, and while I can’t compare it to the novel, it really elevated this film with its well written humor and naturalistic dialogue. Every character, even the smaller roles, felt very memorable. Another thing I admired about this film was it was telling this larger than life, fanfiction-like story where this entire film could feel fake or unrealistic, yet the script and performances grounded it and made it somewhat believable.
One thing I also want to mention is how catchy the soundtrack is. Most of the songs featured are original songs made for the film (written by songwriters/producers Savan Kotecha & Carl Falk) performed by the fake boy band, August Moon. These felt like songs I would hear on the radio or H&M and I’m not gonna lie, if these songs are on streaming, I’m going to be giving them a listen.
All in all, aside from a slightly rushed ending and some unavoidable narrative cliches common in the rom-com genre, this film will thrive in the mid-budget romantic comedy resurgence that has been going on with films like: “Anyone But You”, “Lisa Frankenstein”, “Upgraded” and Nicholas Galitzine’s previous film, “Red, White & Royal Blue.” If you and your other half are in the mood for some cute, funny rom-com escapism for date night, I definitely recommend checking it out on Amazon Prime Video streaming May 2nd.
Score: 8/10
