The Idea of You
A contemplation of boybands, social media and owning one’s own happiness, Anne Hathaway’s latest romcom has enough of the good stuff to recommend it.
Boy meets woman: Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway
Not everybody is impressed by fame or, indeed, the famous. For Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway), nothing seems more inviting than a camping trip in the wilderness all on her ownsome. With her cheating ex (Reid Scott) taking their fifteen-year-old daughter on a Coachella splurge with her three best friends (complete with backstage passes), there is nothing in Solène’s path to prevent her from rediscovering who she is. But real life has a way of upending the best laid plans of mice and men…
A deft reworking of Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel, Michael Showalter’s film explores the familiar battlefields of motherhood, male self-centredness, middle-age, social media, celebrity and the furore surrounding boybands. Solène’s daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) has grown out of the internationally idolised boyband August Moon (“they are so seventh grade”), even if the paparazzi hasn’t. However, August Moon is headlining Coachella (the popular music festival in the Colorado Desert) and there’s a rumoured ‘meet-and-greet.’ When Izzy’s father is forced to bow out at the last minute, Solène is roped in as designated driver (she’s a saint), if only because her life revolves around her daughter. Then, when she uses a loo backstage, she is horrified to find herself trapped in the facility with a young man. On the verge of accusing him of being a deviant, he cuts in to explain that it is actually his trailer. No offence, but he does happen to be the lead singer of August Moon…
As meet-cute scenes go, this is right up there and the 24-year-old pop star Hayes Campbell (the London-born Nicholas Galitzine) is drawn to Solène because she doesn’t give a toss for his celebrity. “Most people think they already know me…” There is an irresistible allure of films about the ordinary trapped in the orbit of the extraordinary (the person vis-à-vis the persona – think A Star is Born, Notting Hill, Lost in Translation, Marry Me, et al), and Michael Showalter makes hay with the material. Galitzine is to be applauded for grounding his character in a recognisable reality and he does have his fair share of laughs. When exploring the gallery that Solène owns and she suggests showing him the ceramics, he says with the greatest sincerity, “I was hoping you would start with the ceramics.”
Showalter, whose credits include The Big Sick and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, does exhibit a nimbleness of tone. Few romcoms pass muster with the critics, but for most of its running time The Idea of You is touchingly romantic and also very funny, thanks largely to the straight-faced playing of Hathaway and Galitzine. As the film’s plausibility is too often balancing on a knife edge, weeding out the tropes is not easy. We’ve witnessed the destructiveness of the tabloids (and their trolling allies) a gazillion times, so it’s hard to find a fresh angle. Somehow Madonna rises above the negative publicity of dating a man 41 years her junior (cf. Andrew Darnell), but then she is Madonna. As Solène says here, “people hate happy women.” The art is to be prepared to own your own happiness.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, Reid Scott, Annie Mumolo, Nina Bloomgarden, Raymond Cham Jr, Mathilda Gianopoulos, Jordan Aaron Hall, Chandler Lovelle, Cheech Manohar, Perry Mattfeld, Meg Millidge, Graham Norton.
Dir Michael Showalter, Pro Cathy Schulman, Gabrielle Union, Anne Hathaway, Robinne Lee, Eric Hayes, Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick, Screenplay Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt, from the novel by Robinne Lee, Ph Jim Frohna, Pro Des Amy Williams, Ed Peter Teschner, Music Siddhartha Khosla, Costumes Jacqueline Demeterio.
Amazon MGM Studios/Somewhere Pictures/Welle Entertainment/I’ll Have Another/Belle Hope Productions-MetFilm Distribution/Amazon Prime.
115 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 2 May 2024. Cert. 15.
