Summary
The Idea of You is a cozy romance movie that works due to Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine’s charm.
I assume The Idea of You is dubbed a “contemporary love story” due to its on-theme perspective of age-gap relationships, which is always the topic of conversation in Hollywood as an annual trend. Regardless of its themes, this is a genuinely wholehearted romance movie. I’m unsurprised: with Anne Hathaway at the helm, you can make any script work.
And yes, that’s an obvious compliment for one of the most generational actresses of our time, but it needs to be made. Hathaway has scope, but undeniably, she fits into good-hearted romance films with ease (Love & Other Drugs is a favorite of mine).
Hathaway tackles her role as 40-year-old Soléne (a beautiful name, by the way), a divorced single mom who accidentally courts an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (played with charm by Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of popular teen heartthrob band August Moon.
The film sets up the romance with the immediate foundation for chemistry, with Soléne showing her age at Coachella by foolishly using the bathroom in Hayes’s trailer. Of course, she has no idea it’s a private trailer, believing it to be a public restroom, which bemuses the lead singer, so much so that he blatantly falls in love with her on the spot. The story sets up a ‘boy meets girl’ dynamic, mainly because the boy is attracted to someone who has no idea what they are doing.
But because it’s Anne Hathaway, it just works. There’s no eye-rolling or scoffing to be made. The chemistry between both leads is electrifying as they sell a frowned-upon age gap that will make Leonardo DiCaprio proud (sorry, I had to). Soléne and Hayes sparkle the storyline so much that it’s sold like a match made in heaven by the time they get intimate.
Talking of age gaps: The Idea of You handles this topic with care for the most part, but also recklessly at others. It’s a vicious cycle of conversation on social media, and I do wonder if these movies help elevate the conversation or worsen it. This movie deals with a seemingly average-life woman who is romancing a Justin Bieber-level pop star, and of course, that raises problems tackled in the film. However, I question if it was tackled effectively. By the third act, the theme falls apart somewhat as the director clearly couldn’t decide if he wanted a predictable romance movie or a salient message.
But I can only judge a movie like this from a watchable aspect. It’s the kind of red wine and chocolate movie you watch on a Friday evening after a hard week at work. It will make you smile, laugh, and adore the characters. There’s barely a foot wrong from all the cast. And that’s all that matters when it comes to a romance movie. I haven’t read the book it is based on, but I hope it does well with its readers.
Even if you are not in the mood for a routine romance, it’s worth watching to enjoy Anne Hathaway alone, and I suppose that’s what the unique selling point of the movie was when they decided to cast for it. Cast her, and you’ll have eyes on it.
I also explained the ending of The Idea of You, in case you need an analysis of that, too.
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