“Anyone But You” is the great return of rom-coms in my opinion.
I chose “Anyone But You” because it is a feel-good movie that had my friend and I laughing hysterically in the theater. Personally, I believe it has been a while since a really good rom-com has come out that covers both romance and comedy well. “Anyone But You” is the movie that takes the cake for both.
“Anyone But You” was released in theaters on December 22, 2023. The film is lightly based on the play, “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare. Bea, the female love interest, is played by Sydney Sweeney who is also well-known from the HBO series “Euphoria.” Ben, the male love interest, is played by Glen Powell who is commonly known from “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Hidden Figures,” and “Set It Up.”
The film gained traction with the world way before it was released when cheating rumors surrounding Sweeney and Powell hit the internet and social media. Some people say it is all advertising for the movie, and others believe something did happen between the two leads. The world may never know which is true, but either way the film became highly anticipated by many.
The film’s popularity continued after its release with a TikTok trend where people are seen coming out of theaters singing and dancing to “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield which was Ben’s “serenity song” in the film. Ben’s fear of flying in the film made the song very popular. He listened to the song for hours on the plane to Australia. Ben and Bea sang the song together when they were being lifted from the water into a helicopter. Ben also sang the song by himself in the helicopter later in the film when he was trying to get to Bea quickly. All of the actors danced at the end of the movie to the song as well.
While “Anyone But You” did have a happy ending, the journey to get there was rocky which is why I like it so much. The main characters, Ben and Bea, spend a night together, but then miscommunication happens that leads them to hating each other. However, Bea’s sister is getting married in Australia to Ben’s friend, so they are forced to meet again. When both of their exes show up for the wedding preparation, Ben and Bea decide to pretend they are dating. Bea wants her parents to stop trying to set her up with her ex, and Ben wants his ex back. Just when things are actually going well between Ben and Bea, more miscommunication happens which makes things even rockier. However, they still end up together due to a grand gesture in true rom com fashion, and several comedic moments happen along the way.
One of my favorite parts of the film was actually the scenes that included Ben’s ex’s partner at the time, Beau, because he was an Australian guy that was portrayed in a barbaric or caveman like manner throughout the whole film. Beau’s scenes would be very random, but very funny. My friend and I laughed the most during his scenes. One of his scenes consisted of him swimming extremely fast in comparison to Ben who was struggling in the water. Beau was played by Joe Davidson who can also be seen in “Stranded” and “H2O: Just Add Water.”
While I believe “Anyone But You” is a great movie, IMDb rates it a 6.7/10, and its Rotten Tomatoes score is 51%. However, the audience score is an 87% which is pretty high.
Overall, I give “Anyone But You” a 10/10 because it has a good plot with several comedic scenes. It also reminded me of my love for rom coms, and I feel like nothing needs to change because they did not have to hold back romantically or comically due to its R rating. If anything, Beau’s scenes are definitely worth a watch.