Michael Showalter’s Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine-led age gap romance film, The Idea of You, almost reaches its full potential.
A tale of self-worth, The Idea of You is less dramatic than May December but more realistic than Marry Me. To its credit, it has a lot of powerful themes that it tries to touch on.
Based on Robinne Lee's novel of the same name, Hathaway plays Solène, a 40-year-old single mom who hits it off with Hayes Campbell (Galitzine), the 24-year-old singer of boy band August Moon. Of course, this type of romance has ramifications for both of their lives.
Solène is an art gallery owner while Hayes is in the prime of his popularity. Both are going to face the music — Solène is searching for love while Hayes knows his fame will dwindle — and together, they discover their self-worth.
But the film is not interested in the tabloid part of the romance. Jennifer Westfeldt co-wrote the script with Showalter and brings sensitivity to Anne Hathaway's performance (who also elevates the script). I can't speak to her experiences as a woman, but surely aging raises insecurity, especially as you're trying to find new love.
But The Idea of You is at its peak when Solène is facing the consequences of her actions. It's unfortunately not the biggest concern of Showalter and Westfeldt's list, and they couldn't help but drain any intrigue out of the ending with their safe play.
The Idea of You review
Solène is going through a rough patch as a single mother who constantly has her ex-husband Daniel's (Reid Scott) new love thrown in his face. Even when she does try to go out, Solène is met with single pet dads and men who claim to understand a woman's struggles.
Daniel tries to spoil his teenage daughter, Izzy (Ella Rubin), with tickets to see August Moon at Coachella. He even upgrades the tickets to include a meet-and-greet with the band.
However, August Moon is “so seventh grade,” per Izzy. But she still takes her friends. In a last-minute move, Daniel bails and asks Solène to take the group to Coachella. She was going to embark on a camping trip of self-discovery, but she complies.
Every rom-com needs its meet cute. Anyone But You had the opening coffee shop scene and Marry Me had Owen Wilson happening to hold a sign asking Jennifer Lopez's character to, well, marry him.
The Idea of You puts all of those to shame with its bathroom meet cute. Solène is going through the relatable music festival struggle of finding a bathroom. After being mistakenly directed to a trailer for one of the acts, she meets Hayes.
The 24-year-old singer instantly becomes infatuated with Solène. Some sparks fly (I suppose) and the two meet again at the official meet-and-greet.
One thing leads to another and Solène ends up embarking on a summer of love tour with Hayes. She travels across Europe with August Moon while keeping it a secret from everyone.
Anne Hathaway's new era
It's crazy to take into consideration that Hathaway has been at the top of her game for two decades. She has taken on some mature, motherly roles in the likes of Armageddon Time and Eileen, but The Idea of You marks a new era for the actress.
In real life, Anne Hathaway is 41 years old. Hollywood used to be a cruel place for women over the age of 35, but times have changed thanks to actresses like Viola Davis, Sandra Bullock, and Meryl Streep, who still get lots of work.
Even still, Hathaway gives a really powerful performance in The Idea of You. Calling the boy that her daughter had posters up on her wall of “hot” is one thing, but falling for him is another ball game.
The film is comfortable calling out the double standard between men and women. Solène's ex-husband got to cheat and find happiness after their relationship ran its course. As one of her friends points out, “Women can't be happy.”
So what's the balance? Solène quickly realizes that she's out of her element upon hanging with the rest of the August Moon crew. There will always be younger, “hotter” women, but Solène's journey discovering that Hayes loves her for who she is easily trumps the rest of the film.
The result of the romance, though, is a game of ping-pong as Solène and Hayes go on a “will they, won't they?” journey in The Idea of You's middle act.
Actions have consequences
Ultimately, the film touches on the ramifications of dating a celebrity (especially one 16 years younger) towards the end of the film. The pair ultimately decide to fight for their love, and this puts Solène's world upside down.
She now needs security at her house, and her daughter is being harassed by the other kids at school. Solène and Hayes have to come to grips with the consequences of their actions.
That's perhaps why The Idea of You would work better as a miniseries. There are lots of great ideas in the film, but an under-two-hour runtime doesn't allow all of them to be fully realized.
Solène and Hayes coming together takes up a large portion of the first hour of the film. From there, they go on their summer tour before breaking up and reuniting a couple of times. That leaves under an hour to show the real, non-celebrity world ramifications the relationship has on Hayes and especially Solène — the former hardly seems concerned with the tabloids running pictures of them.
Each of those could have been its own episode. You could have even stretched it into four or five episodes if you really wanted to. The filmmakers had to make tough choices when it came to finding their story. And, ultimately, it stinks that they didn't pay more attention to the best parts of their story.
Should you stream The Idea of You?
The Idea of You has flashes of brilliance. It's a relatively mature entry into the romance genre. Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine give great performances in the film and have decent chemistry.
However, it falters thanks to its miniseries-friendly story. There are a lot of things it wants to touch on and effectively does so on the subjects it chooses to highlight.
As I said earlier, it's simply not interested in the bombshell tabloid romance of it all. The Idea of You instead opts for a softball pitch of a family-friendly film that would work a whole lot better without that ending. Is it worth watching for a little under two hours? Like Hathaway and Galitzine's characters in the film, none of us are getting younger. Take that as you will.
Grade: C+
The Idea of You is streaming on Prime Video.
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