In the warmly charming rom-com "The Idea of You," Anne Hathaway plays a 40-year-old divorcee and Silver Lake art gallery owner who, after taking her teenage daughter to Coachella, becomes romantically involved with a 24-year-old heartthrob in the boy band August Moon. They first meet after she mistakes his trailer for the bathroom.
There are a few hundred things about this premise that might be farfetched, including the odds of finding love anywhere near the porta johns of a music festival. But one of them is not that a young star like Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine) would fall for a single mom like Solène (Hathaway).
Solène is stylish, unimpressed by Hayes' celebrity and has bangs so perfect they look genetically modified. And, most importantly, she's Anne Hathaway.
‘The Idea of You,’ starring Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway, is full of all the kinds of contradictions that can make a rom-com work. PHOTOS FROM PRIME VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS ‘The Idea of You,’ starring Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway, is full of all the kinds of contradictions that can make a rom-com work. PHOTOS FROM PRIME VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
In the power dynamics of "The Idea of You," Hayes may be a fictional pop star but Hathaway is a very real movie star. And it is difficult to forget that even for a moment in Michael Showalter's lightly appealing showcase of the actor at her resplendent best.
"The Idea of You," which debuted Thursday on Prime Video [now also streaming in the Philippines] is full of all the kinds of contradictions that can make a rom-com work.
The highly glamorous, megawatt-smiling Hathaway is playing a down-to-earth nobody. The showbiz veteran in the movie is played by Galitzine, a less well-known but up-and-coming British actor whose performance in the movie is quite authentic. And even though the whole scenario is undeniably a glossy high-concept Hollywood fairy tale, Showalter gives it enough texture that "The Idea of You" comes off more natural and sincere than you'd expect.
The only thing that really needs to make perfect sense in a movie like "The Idea of You" is the chemistry.
The film takes its time in the early scenes between Solène and Hayes — first at Coachella, then when he stops by her gallery — allowing their rapport to build convincingly, and giving each actor plenty of time to smolder.
At the same time, the movie stays faithful to its central mission of celebrating middle-aged womanhood. The relationship will eventually cause a social media firestorm, but its main pressure point is whether Solène can stick with Hayes after her ex-husband ( Reid Scott ) cheated on her. This is a fairy tale she deserves.
While Showalter ("The Big Sick") has long showed a great gift for juggling comedy and drama at once, "The Idea of You" leans more fully into wish-fulfillment romance.
There are surely more interesting and funnier places "The Idea of You" could have gone. But Hathaway and Galitzine are a good enough match that, for a couple hours, it's easy to forget.
But the most convincing thing about the movie? August Moon. The movie nails the look and sound of boy bands so well because it went straight to the source. The original songs in the film are by Savan Kotecha and Carl Falk, the producer-songwriters of, among other pop hits, "What Makes You Beautiful," One Direction's debut single.
That connection will probably only further the sense that "The Idea of You" is very nearly "The Idea of Harry Styles." The filmmakers have distanced the movie from any real-life resemblances. But one thing is for sure: With August Moon following 4(asterisk)Town of "Turning Red" (whose songs were penned by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell ), the audience is living in the golden age of the fictional boy band.
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