"Anyone But You" is a romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Will Gluck ("Easy A", "Friends With Benefits", "Peter Rabbit"). Starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell in the lead roles, it is a safely predictable romantic comedy that gets by on the watchability of its two stars.
In Boston, law student Bea (Sydney Sweeney) meets investment banker Ben (Glen Powell) in a coffee shop and the two decide to spend the day together. After falling asleep on his couch, Bea sneaks out of Ben's apartment without waking him, only to have second thoughts and return later that day. However, upon returning, Bea overhears Ben talking about her to his friend Pete (GaTa), where he disregards her as nothing more than a casual fling. Six months later, Bea and Ben unexpectedly cross paths once again when Bea's sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) becomes engaged to Pete's friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), with the wedding due to take place in Sydney, Australia. Despite their mutual animosity, Bea and Ben choose to maintain a ruse that they are actually a loving couple so as to appease the feelings of all the wedding guests and the brides to be.
Something that I really enjoy watching in virtually all forms of media is contemporary adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare. From the film and stage musicals of "West Side Story" (Romeo and Juliet) to Disney's animated classic "The Lion King" (Hamlet), many of us have likely viewed at least one form of entertainment that originates from Shakespeare's plays, whether we're aware of it or not. There's certainly something to admire about how the Bard's work can still be told in a modern context without losing anything important regarding its core meaning or overall impact. In a loose retelling of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", the 2023 film "Anyone But You" has a lot going for it on the surface, but once you strip away these factors, all you end up with is another by-the-numbers romantic comedy that squanders its full potential.
Even from the very beginning, it's easy to tell exactly how this film is going to play out. When our two lead characters Bea and Ben first meet each other, it seems like love at first sight, with the pair spending the day affectionately strolling through a park and later heading back to his apartment for some home cooking. Eventually, the two realise that they don't really love each other all, with a series of misunderstandings causing them to "break up", despite not being a real couple to begin with. Later on, circumstances arise where they are forced to be around one another once again for an extended period of time, eventually deciding to put up with each other for the sake of keeping up appearances. There are no prizes for guessing the direction this story is going to take from here, as anybody who is familiar with the romantic comedy genre can figure out that these two will end up together at some point later on. This is where the appeal of the genre proves polarising, since there are many viewers who find enjoyment in that predictability whereas there are numerous others who hate it for the very same reason. It all depends on what you consider entertainment, but I personally don't care for this approach at all.
As a contemporary take on a Shakespearian story, the film still follows the same basic plot with certain updates added to make it feel better suited for today's audiences. For instance, the location of the wedding is now in Sydney, Australia, as opposed to the Sicilian city of Messina. In addition to this, the main characters' names from the play have been shortened down, with Benedick becoming "Ben" and Beatrice becoming "Bea". However, the dialogue is the modern vernacular without any of the "Old English" sentence structure that Shakespeare plays are best known for. Though I did approve of most of these changes, some of the miscellaneous Easter eggs and references to the original story felt very tacked on. In some scenes, we see lines from the original play graffitied on a wall that a character walks past or on a sign at a wharf where a large group of wedding guests are all getting ready for a cruise. The only one of these references I kind of liked was a boat named "Sigh No More", which alludes to a notable song from the play.
Since the film takes place in Australia, I expected there to be some gags about this group of Americans feeling out of place in a foreign country, yet there are barely any comedic moments that truly made me smile. In one scene that goes on longer that it should, Ben and Bea are pretending to be feel each other up intimately in front of the other wedding guests, even though everyone else is distracted by a nearby koala. It is here where Ben discovers that a large Huntsman spider has found its way into his pants, leading to him frantically taking off all his clothes and throwing them off a cliff. Why he decided to throw them somewhere he cannot get them back so easily is unknown, but it appears to have been done to set up for a rather contrived scene where he is now naked in front of Bea and the others. The fact that this scene has such an obvious punch line from the start should indicate the level of weak humour this film has going for it, as it would appear the writers found this hilarious enough to drag it out for nearly five minutes straight.
That's not to say the film is completely unfunny, because there are a handful of moments that raised a snicker out of me. I liked this running joke about the Americans thinking that Australian coffee is "amazing" due to how much more powerful it is compared to what they have back home. Without giving away too much, this actually led to one part that came close to making me laugh out loud. There is also a character named Beau who looks and acts exactly like your modern stereotypical Aussie bloke. He has long blond hair, is often shirtless, loves surfing, and speaks with a thick Australian accent while using slang that most Americans won't understand. Admittedly, Beau did make me smile at the idea of how us Australians must look in front of foreigners, but unfortunately he wasn't featured enough in the story to be considered a scene stealer.
Though their characterisation was rather bland, the performances of both Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell as Bea and Ben are what saves this otherwise routine romantic comedy from sinking without a trace. There's no denying these two have solid chemistry, even during moments where they are hurling verbal abuse at each other. Sweeney has this specific look on her face that allows her to hold the audience's attention long enough to wonder how she will react to a certain situation, whereas Powell is a decent straight man who is capable of giving her solid material to work with. I just wish these two had more interesting character traits other than being the stock boy and girl who need to fall in love with each other simply because the plot demands it. Aside from this, there is very little else worth mentioning about their contribution to the story.
Considering how much it seemed to have going for it, "Anyone But You" does little to elevate itself above being yet another mediocre romantic comedy among many others. Its attempt at retelling a classic Shakespearian story leaves a lot to be desired, featuring only the bare bones of the original plot and some uninspired modern references shoehorned in for good measure. If it weren't for the charismatic leads and a few nice shots of the Australian scenery, I wouldn't give it the time of day. In the end, you can only really view this film as one of those cookie-cutter modern romantic comedies that just so happens to come with a Shakespeare paint job. Of course, if that's more than enough to keep you entertained then the film may just be worth your time. As for me, I think the Bard deserved better than this.
I rate it 6/10.
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