The movies were really trying a lot of stuff in 2023. We had a couple tries at bringing back the R Rated comedy. Video gamers finally got a big hit on their hands. And the big one: making July 21 an epic movie event no one wanted to miss. At at the end of the year, we get on final one: a good old school screwball romcom with no greenscreens. Anyone But You, like its leads, really wants you to like it, and for the most part succeeds on charm and enthusiasm. And gorgeous, magnetic Sydney Australia.
After a lovely meetcute with an emotionally messy resolution, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) thought they would never see each other again. But Ben’s best friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) is smitten with Bea’s sister Halle (Hadley Robinson). Claudia and Halle decide to get married in Sydney Australia, bringing along all their friends and family, including Ben and Bea. B&B are beset on all sides by family pressure via Bea’s parents (Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths) or Ben’s ex girlfriend (Charlee Fraser). Frustrated, Ben and Bea agree to fake a relationship to get everyone off their backs, that ends with a fistfight inside the Sydney Opera House.
Ok, obviously that last part didn’t happen. But plot isn’t why you watch a screwball romcom. It’s to see a couple of insanely hot people look incredible, make you laugh, and get you a little flush and excited with their chemistry. So let’s look at them one by one. Glen Powell’s been on a superstar trajectory since his incredible work in Everybody Wants Some!!. In Anyone But You, he’s the home run. He’s still Top Gun ripped, and in addition carries with him this ability to charm and disarm with his gift for gab and ability to sell any scene he’s in, constantly putting himself on blast for the sake of a good joke in the process. Sydney Sweeney damn near matches Powell as well. She’s not quite as smooth a comedian as Powell, but she makes up for it with incredible dramatic work and fully committing to some of the physically awkward scenes this movie forces her to do for the sake of a good joke. But the big razzle dazzle of Anyone But You is the Powell/Sweeney sizzle reel. The pair are dynamite together, like sexy magnets pulling everyone in. There’s couple scenes in her in particular that are going to end up on some “Most Paused Movie Moments” lists due to Powell and Sweeney completely selling their prickly hot attraction to one another.
When you have such perfect leads as Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, it’s everyone else’s job to completely commit to the bit to sell the romance. To make that job easy we have a bunch of seasoned romcom vets ready and willing to support. Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths were clearly hired to make everybody think of 90s romcoms that inspired Anyone But You, having a blast playing nagging parents instead of nagging leading men/women. Bryan Brown and GaTa get a beautifully dumb runner trying to ad lib on a conversation they want to be eavesdropped on by Ben, failing sillily and spectacularly. And our brides Alexandra Shipp and Hadley Robinson get to actually be the smartest ones in a romcom: we’re never really worried about them, and they are so cute together they act like the glue to the story. The other glue guy here is Will Gluck, the director. With his bigger budget Gluck makes Australia into a comedic romantic paradise, doing all sorts of big sight gags to make Anyone But You as epic as possible, including one or two that have a shot at being all timers.
During the end of the year blitz of heavy, intense films sometimes you need a burger and fries. So if your Christmases with family are anything like The Feast of the Seven Fishes in The Bear, get out of the house for a few hours and watch Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney fall in love in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. And hopefully, you’ll also start planning that Australia/New Zealand two weeker you’ve wanted to do for years. Trust me, it’s worth it.