Anyone But You

 

Anyone But You (2023)

A Bizarre, AI-Adjacent Jumble of Rom-Com Cliches

★★☆☆☆

Watched 09 Feb 2024 — Beautiful locales and an affable cast can't save a film that lacks the heart and chemistry to be truly touching.

Directed by Will Gluck, Anyone But You attempts to be a throwback to the golden age of 90s and early 2000s romantic comedies. However, the result feels more like a clumsy reassembly of genre stereotypes than a cohesive story. While the production design is beautiful and the cast is undeniably "easy on the eyes," the film is missing that special, undefinable element that makes the best rom-coms effective. Despite being loosely inspired by Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, the tributes are limited to obscure callbacks that fail to ground the "ludicrous and forced" physical comedy.

"The movie feels like it was written by Artificial Intelligence. A bunch of classic romantic comedy cliches and genre stereotypes from other films have been jumbled up, reworked and clumsily reassembled into this film."

— Ray Manukay

🎬 Cast & Crew

• Director: Will Gluck
• Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell
• Supporting: Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Dermot Mulroney
• Studio: [Sony Pictures / Columbia](https://www.sonypictures.com)

The Vision

Gluck’s vision seems unabashedly focused on checking the boxes of a romantic comedy rather than simply telling a good story. By forcing silly physical jokes into a narrative that lacks genuine chemistry between its leads, the film feels synthetic. The attempt to modernize the Bard’s wit is lost in a sea of "unrecognizable easter eggs," making the proceedings feel ineffective for fans of the source material. It is a movie designed for a younger generation who might not have seen the classics, relying on "beautiful locales" to mask its lack of sincerity and believable romance.

🎬 Cinephile Fun Facts

• Shakespearean Ties: The character names Bea and Ben are direct references to [Beatrice and Benedick](https://en.wikipedia.org) from *Much Ado About Nothing*.
• Viral Success: Despite mixed reviews, the film became a massive [box office sleeper hit](https://www.variety.com), fueled by a viral TikTok trend involving the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield.
• Dermot’s Return: The inclusion of [Dermot Mulroney](https://www.imdb.com) is a meta-nod to his status as a rom-com icon from 1997's *My Best Friend's Wedding*.

✅ Pros

• Affable, attractive cast that is "easy on the eyes."
• Beautiful Australian locales and high production design.
• A successful return of the genre's commercial viability.

❌ Cons

• Lack of palpable chemistry between Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.
• Ludicrous and forced physical comedy.
• Narrative feels like an "AI-written" jumble of cliches.

🏆 Final Verdict

A disappointing attempt to recapture the magic of the 90s rom-com. Unless you're looking for purely "harmless" fluff or are a die-hard fan of the leads, this AI-adjacent assembly of tropes may leave you cold. Up to the viewer to decide.

View on Letterboxd