The Idea of You, starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, isn’t going to win any Oscars. But it doesn’t have to. A lot of times, the Hollywood machine is hyper-critical of anything that isn’t prestige filmmaking. That’s especially true when you have a heavy hitter like Hathaway playing the lead Solène. She has had a star-studded career that ranges from The Princess Diaries to Les Miserables. But that doesn’t mean she can’t experiment a little bit and try her hand at a romance. And that’s true even if the romance feels like a One Direction fanfiction with Galitzine playing Hayes aka her musician love interest. Sometimes, we can have funny, sexy, and absurd romances. The Idea of You just so happens to be one.
At the heart of it, The Idea of You is the story of what happens after. After a divorce, after your kid gets ready to spread her wings and fly the coop, and after your ex is already moving on with someone else while you’re still there. In many ways, it’s kind of a second chance at romance. But I personally don’t think the second chance romance is with Hayes. It’s with herself. Solène has been doing everything for everyone else. And her whirlwind romance with Hayes was Solène following her gut instinct and giving in to the chemistry with this musician. This wasn’t her being a cougar or sowing her wild oats. There was a genuine connection with Hayes. He made her feel like everything that had happened to her didn’t mean it was the end of happiness. It was just the start of something new.
As for Hayes, I don’t have much to say about him. Galitzine is really blowing up and has become the white boy flavor of the month for a lot of people. But I mean, he did a good job at selling the role. His character was quiet and introspective in many instances. He was intentional with his actions. He was willing to try new things and knew what he wanted. But it all didn’t come off in a douchebag kind of way that these sorts of traits usually befall men in romance movies with these character attributes. Or at least in the rom-coms that I’ve watched. And even though I haven’t found this man to be hot a single day in my life, the scenes between his character and Hathaway’s were the right amount of steamy. They had a connection, and it felt visceral. Everything else, the whole celebrity falling in love with a normal person, faded away because the two leads sold it from start to finish, whether they were going around the world or hanging around in her kitchen.
And it wasn’t even Hathaway and Galitzine that sold this movie alone. I really enjoyed Ella Rubin, who played the daughter Izzy. As a character, Izzy is concerned for her mom but not in the typical teenage way, where it’s all about her. Izzy understood what her mom had gone through and supported her. In turn, her mom had her back and set aside this new love for her daughter. Because stardom has its drawbacks, and if there’s anything that Solène is good at, it’s having her priorities and sticking to them. Not just for herself but for those she loves without it being some sort of overbearing, “I’m going to make the decision for you” manner. However, that doesn’t mean that she sat on the backburner. This was Solène’s journey, and from start to finish, it’s about who she decides to be for herself while considering the lives of those around her.
Further, I don’t think I even need to include the things I didn’t like about this movie in this review because it’s so minuscule, and I already came up with a specific set of expectations when I started watching. Again, it wasn’t going to win an Oscar. It wasn’t going to change the romance game. But what it was going to do was give us an unapologetic take on a woman who isn’t a young 20-something falling in love. Because those stories are important. And the older I get, the more I realize that romances in movies aren’t representing who I am or who I’m going to be. Maybe not Anne Hathaway. But something beyond my 20’s. And I think this is why I enjoyed The Idea of You so much. The ups and downs, twists and turns of life don’t stop happening when you have an empty nest and are in your 40s. The adventure continues. Always.
But if you’re really gunning for a complaint about The Idea of You, I do wish that Hathaway had more of a female friendship in this movie. She did have her kid, but she shouldn’t be telling her kid that she’s bumping uglies with Hayes because that’s just all sorts of awkward. Her husband’s partner is out because she was the other woman. Solène did have some moments with friends inquiring about her dating life and birthday milestones. Still, I wish there were a couple more sprinklings throughout the movie where we could see how her friends perceived the relationship. Because of relationships like the one Solène had with her daughter Izzy, it bordered a little bit too much on Gilmore Girls vibes. And growing up means realizing it isn’t as cute as people would like you to believe.
What would be cute is if Anne Hathaway did more rom-coms. I want silly, heartfelt, cheesy, belly laughs inducing rom-coms. Because JLo and Sandra Bullock can’t be the only ones past the age of twenty doing rom-coms — everyone should. But most importantly, it will open the door for more representation when it comes to women in romance. Because sometimes we’re not the young and spry 20-year-old going to college or doing a cross-country road trip and finding herself along the way. Sometimes, it starts in a small art gallery or even at a concert at Coachella. Looking at the news, we see multiple extraordinary things happen that we never thought possible. So why not believe in something like The Idea of You?
The Idea of You is now streaming on Prime Video.
First Featured Image | Poster Credit: ©Prime Video