ANYONE BUT YOU

Coasting by on the palpable chemistry between leads Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, Anyone But You isn’t quite a true romcom renaissance, but it sure proves the formula has some life left in it.

As has always been the case, casting the right couple to fall in love with each other is paramount in a romantic comedy. That part Anyone But You gets triumphantly right, with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell combining for a pair of bickering lovers you can’t help but root for.

Taking its cue from the best possible source, William Shakespeare’s timeless Much Ado About Nothing, the film mostly succeeds in updating the romcom for modern audiences as it mixes deft and daffy dialogue with unbreakable genre conventions and a dash of gratuitous nudity.

Predictability sets in quite early, to be honest, and references to Titanic further dent any hint of trying something new, bit whatever Anyone But You lacks in originality it makes up for in fun, charm and overall likeability.

Apart from Powell and Sweeney – in star-making turns that caused instant online gossip about their actual attraction to each other – the entire cast is game to join in on the fun in the sun-soaked Aussie locations, even if that causes the picture to venture into sitcom territory more than once.

So while Anyone But You doesn’t come near the wit of Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 Much Ado adaptation, it at least shows movie studios and audiences that solid romcoms have been sorely missed in cinemas. Here’s hoping a veritable comeback is on the horizon.

release: 2023

director: Will Gluck

starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Dermot Mulroney, GaTa