[PREVIEW] 'Anyone But You' Is Not The Mid-Budget Rom-Com Blockbuster We Asked For

The great rom-com stars make it look easy. Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore: When they fall in love on-screen, their charm pulls us in and the transparency of their emotions enables us to feel every moment of yearning and every thrill just as their characters do. But a rom-com lead can also, we recently discovered, turn in such a limp performance that it makes the sheer difficulty of being a rom-com lead obvious. Sydney Sweeney is a good actress, and she was surely trying to put in a rousing performance as the female lead ofthe recent film “Anyone But You.” It just doesn’t work. A lot of things don’t work about this movie, which nonetheless has become a runaway hit. Basic elements of the plot don’t quite hang together; the characters, even the two leads, are thinner than tissue paper; the movie is lit and staged like an ad for a hotel chain; several scenes, including a crucial one revolving around a giant decorative wrench, approach (presumably unintentional) self-parody. A woman confuses a giant tarantula for a mole on someone’s butt. A man uses a marine search and rescue organization as a taxi service. Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are semi-nude or wholly nude throughout much of the movie, as if to distract us from the finer workings of the plot with their tempting physiques.But if this movie, flawed as it is, helps us bring back the mid-budget, wide-release romantic comedy, it will all have been worthwhile. Even Shakespeare, whose perfect rom-com “Much Ado About Nothing” was shamelessly pillaged for this bland, low-energy adaptation, would surely agree.In our recap, we discuss Sydney Sweeney’s damp dishrag of a performance, her character’s vast wardrobe of white and beige separates, the profusion of plot holes and absurd details, the missing motivations and character details the leads should have been blessed with, and much more. Hope you enjoy! xoShare Rich TextIf you liked reading this, click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Patreon!Give us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription