Random thoughts on ‘Anyone But You’
Did Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell actually save the rom-com?
Welcome to Girl Culture, the newsletter where Caroline Siede examines pop culture, feminism, and more. Learn more about Girl Culture’s mission here
If there’s one good thing about being sick for two weeks, it’s that you get a lot of time to catch up on ridiculous movies and TV. (Hello six seasons of Survivor.) And since things have been a little quieter on Girl Culture than I intended recently (something I very much intend to change in the coming months), I thought this was the perfect time to delve into one of my biggest 2023 rom-com blindspots: Anyone But You.
For whatever reason, I put off watching this much-buzzed about Sydney Sweeney/Glen Powell last year, even as it enjoyed an impressive box office run and was touted as the latest movie to save the romantic comedy genre. Maybe it’s that I’ve been rooting for Powell to reunite with his Set It Up co-star, Zoey Deutch. Or maybe it’s just that the “sexy” trailer and gossip-igniting press tour both felt a little exhausting to me.
But I love Much Ado About Nothing and I’m always rooting for a rom-com revival, so this felt like the right fever-ridden time to finally check it off my watch list.
To be honest, I’ve also had a hard time tracking whether people actually liked this movie or not. Sure, it was popular. But is it good? I figured the best way to find out was to live blog my initial viewing of this modern-day Shakespeare riff. So let’s dive into my real-time reactions:
When it comes to the filmography of writer/director Will Gluck, I like Easy A and didn’t hate the Quvenzhané Wallis Annie remake, but I famously prefer Ivan Reitman’s No Strings Attached over Gluck’s Friends with Benefits, so we’ll see where this one lands.
Sorry, but if you need a man to help you worm your way into using a coffee shop bathroom, you are not a relatable female protagonist to me. Show some initiative, Sydney Sweeney!
Oh, they’re actually called Bea and Ben. I didn’t realize this was that much of a direct Much Ado adaptation.
Speaking of which: The key thing separating Much Ado About Nothing from a general “enemies-to-lovers” story is the idea that Beatrice and Benedick have a romantic history together, so I’m glad the movie is taking that route! (Which is something I feel like it entirely hid from its trailers?)
Although, does spending one day together count as having a romantic history…?
Should’ve gone all-in on calling her Hero, you cowards.
Hmm, okay, this feels like an egregious amount of hatred between Bea and Ben for a one-night fling that happened six months ago.
Dermot Mulroney aging from rom-com lead to rom-com dad isn’t quite as unsettling to me as Josh “Tad Hamilton” Duhamel playing the dad in Love, Simon, but it’s up there.
I know it’s supposed to just be a cute tie-in with the movie’s IRL release date, but throwing a destination wedding in AUSTRALIA on DECEMBER 22nd is actually criminal.
Also, Bea’s sister is having a destination wedding across the globe, but Bea is sitting in a middle seat on the flight over? What are the economics of this family?
Bea and Ben’s initial post-fling confusion is taking this movie out of Much Ado “scorned exes” territory and into a much more generic “rom-com misunderstanding” scenario. So much so that the movie has to give them both other exes to pine over, which feels like a weirdly convoluted workaround.
And now we get everyone tricking them into thinking they’ve misunderstood each other, but they actually have misunderstood each other?
“The plump-chested one with the sad eyes” is such a deeply accurate Sydney Sweeney description. 10/10
Okay, Bea being one step ahead of the manipulation is a good twist. But now we’re onto a fake dating set-up, which is… not Much Ado About Nothing.
On the other hand, I think Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are fundamentally too hot and nubile to play Beatrice and Benedick so maybe this is for the best.
“I am not hot girl fit.”
Relatedly: Glen Powell is also too hot for me to believe that this hot Australian guy is making him feel insecure.
Of all the (rather forced) physical comedy we’ve gotten so far, Dermot Mulroney trying to dive into a pool is what made me genuinely laugh out loud.
53 minutes in and I’m currently rooting for Bea and Ben to get back together with their exes.
While Sweeney and Powell have good sexual chemistry, they don’t have good comedic chemistry, which I would argue is actually way more important for a Much Ado About Nothing riff (or a rom-com in general). And I’m putting that more on her than him. He’s trying to deliver some zippy mania and she’s in her “go girl, give us nothing” era.
Not to wade into the age gap discourse, but I appreciate this movie acknowledging that Glen Powell is almost a decade older than Sydney Sweeney, rather than just pretending like they’re the same age.
“Look how lucky we are. On a boat, sailing back and forth for no real transportational reason.” Gotta say, GaTa has consistently been the funniest part of this entire movie for me.
I’m sure Sweeney is short in real life, but she doesn’t really read that way on camera so none of these short jokes are landing for me.
I said “Titanic me” seconds before Sweeney did and that’s what years of studying rom-coms will do for you.
On the other hand, this Titanic homage is just reminding me of how much better Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling were together when riffing on Dirty Dancing in Crazy, Stupid, Love.
This Sydney Harbour overboard sequence is the best Sweeney and Powell have been this whole movie. (Maybe they should’ve just remade Overboard together?)
From “Pocketful of Sunshine” in Easy A to “Unwritten” here, if there’s one thing Will Gluck is gonna do, it’s give Natasha Bedingfield a showcase.
Sorry to be a downer, but Bea and Ben really don’t seem like they’re in compatible life stages right now and I kind of don’t think it would be a good idea for them to date!
Much Ado stickler corner: Having this whole thing build to a climatic Ben/Bea fight is a very different dynamic than having an external conflict about Hero bring them together.
Also, how does a 16th-century play have more interesting themes of gender and patriarchy than this 2023 film?
There’s such a strange lack of commitment from this screenplay: The movie doesn’t want Bea and Ben to actively mess up her sister’s wedding so instead a dog knocks over the wedding cake and she apologizes for it?
Ooh, this pink bridesmaids dress is an AMAZING color on Sydney Sweeney.
Halle and Claudia had all these other guests fly to Australia in December and then didn’t even invite them to any of their pre-wedding events?? Rude.
“I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest” is a great Shakespeare line and a nonsensical wedding vow.
Wait, has the existence of this dog been a Dogberry joke all along?
There’s a meta goofiness to Ben’s big rush to find Bea that I wish the rest of the movie had embraced.
I’m worried about Glen Powell getting Tom Cruise-pilled and this fast run out of a helicopter sequence is not doing much to assuage that fear.
It’s been two years since they first met? Did I fundamentally misunderstand the timeline of this movie?
I give this relationship three months max.
The verdict: While I’d hoped that going in with lowered expectations (and a fever) might help buoy Anyone But You, it was actually way worse than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I’m just judging it too harshly because I love Much Ado so much. But unlike Easy A and Friends With Benefits, which papered over their more rote plot points with phenomenal casting, Anyone But You has a pretty big gap when it comes to its leading lady.
For as effective as Sydney Sweeney’s lethargic blankness is on Euphoria, it’s not an especially great quality for a rom-com lead. You’d cast her as Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend’s Wedding, not Julia Roberts. And it’s hard to overcome miscasting your film’s take on one of the greatest, wittiest female characters in the entire Shakespeare canon.
Funnily enough, one of the things that killed the rom-com in the late 2000s is that they couldn’t find men worthy of their leading ladies. But this time around, it’s Powell who’s holding this two-hander together, while Sweeney’s just out to sea. (Again, get Zoey Deutch on the phone, stat.)
While I’m all for rom-coms coming back into fashion, I think it’s important that we still hold the genre to the high watermark it’s very much capable of reaching. Anyone But You has pizzazz, but it doesn’t really have heart. Maybe this one should’ve stayed unwritten.
Other stuff I’ve worked on lately: I reviewed Max’s new “girl power” political dramedy The Girls on the Bus (which is currently airing weekly) for The Daily Beast. And I stopped by the Cinematic Universe podcast to discuss my love for 2021’s Tick, Tick... Boom!
Wow, I can't believe Tick Tick Boom was 3 years ago...
1) Yay more content Caroline!!! 💜
2) SET IT UP! I could never place what movie I was thinking of Glen Powell from. So much comes together now. I came for the Taye Diggs-Lucy Liu and stayed for the Zoey Deutch.
3) Short jokes are Midsummer Night's Dream, NOT MAAN! No wonder it doesn't quite work...
(Though, in general, Much Ado is hard to get wrong, as there live we as merry as the day is long)