Anyone But You Review: Glen Powell And Sydney Sweeney Star In Frisky, Fun Rom-Com
"What it's about is making things surprising but inevitable," the legendary composer Stephen Sondheim once mused about the nature of storytelling to his biographer. This maxim applies doubly so for genre entertainment like romantic comedies. To woo audiences, they must make familiar tropes and trajectories feel foreign.
Trying to hold space for both focusing on the new and forgetting the nondescript finds expression within the narrative of "Anyone But You," a spin on rom-com lore. As she surveys the protruding arches of the immediately recognizable Sydney Opera House, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) reveals that she'd like to go there ... but not to admire the architecture. Instead, she wants to watch how the people who convene at the landmark interact with the building — and each other.
Her strategy could be plausibly extrapolated to provide a viewing guide for the film at large. "Anyone But You" knows viewers are well acquainted with the structure of the rom-com, and co-writer/director Will Gluck does not bother tweaking the template. It's an excuse to watch the sparks fly between romantic leads Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney within the framework. The movie is usually smart enough to get out of their way and let them light up the frame.
Let's get physical
"Anyone But You" pitches itself as a modernization of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," not unlike the late '90s-early '00s boomlet of adaptations like "10 Things I Hate About You" or "She's the Man." Gluck's cinematic reference points go back much further, however. The chemistry between Powell and Sweeney most closely resembles screwball comedies of the early studio era.
Gluck and co-writer Ilana Wolpert fashion the Bard into a classical comedy of remarriage. This early form of romantic comedy developed a series of innuendos in response to the era's censorship, which forbade the depiction of what it deemed "immoral" acts like divorce and public displays of sexuality. Those overt restrictions are gone, and "Anyone But You" gets cheeky (quite literally, in Powell's case) flouting them. But the film internalizes the logic that made those innovative classics work — people want foreplay, not consummation.
As Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell), former partners in a one-night-stand gone south, the two ex-lovers must fake the rekindling of their flame to placate their loved ones on an Australian destination wedding. There's some of the standard verbal sparring as the two trade jabs at one another, attempting to defend their honor by cutting the other down. But where "Anyone But You" soars is the strength of the stars' physical commitment to their roles.
The film opens with Bea's introduction to Ben via public mortification over needing to use a public restroom, and the stakes only ratchet up from there. Through bodily movement, Powell and Sweeney tell the sensual story of their characters' relationship. Their initial ease quickly curdles into unease and awkwardness that manifests in countless hilarious gags throughout "Anyone But You." Sometimes it's as pointedly obvious as the duo, tussling over a phallic-shaped firework in their hands, prematurely setting off fireworks. But at its most effectively realized, Powell and Sweeney translate the confusion of their characters' minds into the awkward contortion of their bodies.
Subpar supporting cast
While the film's marquee names can fall back on this metaphorical language to help sell their characters, the rest of the cast just has the words on the page. "Anyone But You" does its supporting company of friends, ex-lovers, and family members a grand disservice. The film strands performers as talented as Alexandra Shipp and Dermot Mulroney (in a nice bit of stunt casting to recall his role in "My Best Friend's Wedding") by leaving them with stilted dialogue to speak and improbable scenarios to enact.
It's these people who must set in motion the events that push Bea and Ben back toward each other during the wedding festivities. Yet the film misses the joys that these secondary characters can bring by reducing them to purely functional status. Because "Anyone But You" only cares about them insofar as they relate to furthering the journey of the main characters, already messy scenes become brutal to watch when their actions strain credulity. (Yes, this even adjusts for the suspension of disbelief curve inherent to rom-coms.) There's nothing to fall back on from character details because these figures only exist to be instrumentalized.
The best that can be said about everything surrounding Powell and Sweeney in "Anyone But You" is that they mostly have the good sense to move the plot quickly and then let the stars sparkle. Bea and Ben are not necessarily the most dynamically drawn characters, but they at least move beyond millennial ice queen and golden retriever boyfriend archetypes thanks to the performers' spirited turns. This rom-com is a frisky, fun watch when they physically immerse themselves in the evolving fiction of their relationship. That's provided, of course, they're left alone to (re)discover each other.
/Film Rating: 6 out of 10