I can’t lie; when I agreed to watch this movie (Happy Girlfriend, Happy Life); I wasn’t expecting much due to the generic title and even more generic-looking trailer. I had hoped that at least Anne Hathaway (who refuses to age and looks as stunning as ever) would keep my attention. Not only did she do that, but she reminded me why I could never hate her, as she gives everything to this film, and without her, The Idea of You would become “just another” rom-com.
And sure enough, this film starts as your generic rom-com – divorced parents, a dead-beat dad who breaks all the promises and a mum who must pull her weight to make up for him… Not breaking any new ground here. However, if we put Anne’s performance aside for a second, the film quickly devolves into something more intriguing. It has many things to say about celebrity lifestyle, relationships with a significant age gap and how the Internet (respectively, obsessive fans on the Internet) can shout everything at you without thinking about the fact that they are not screaming at the wall but at a person on the other side of that smartphone. And, as it is in the case of Anne’s character, that person is a “civilian” who didn’t knowingly sign up for this shit.
This discourse happens mainly in the second half. Therefore, for us to be in this until that happens, we must be pulled into the movie by the performances. I thought Nicholas Galitzine was fine. Despite him being the second lead, his character wasn’t as interesting to me, but I thought he did the best he could with it. But as I mentioned above, this is Anne Hathaway’s one-woman show. There were at least three separate moments she showed such sincerity and understanding for her character; I was in this movie because of her. I believed her every word, and she yet again proved that she was a great actress and should be a leading lady for some time to come. There are many great actresses, but I can’t think of anyone I would rather see in this role as Anne made it her own.
The second half, when we delve deeper into the double standard of older woman/younger man relationship and how society still treats it… let’s say poorly, was something I didn’t expect from a rom-com like this one. Especially, how this movie treats this topic with the nuance it deserves, rather than coming off as preachy. The more I thought about this film afterwards, the more I managed to convince myself that The Idea of You has a chance of becoming a classic of this genre and in 10/15 years, people will still remember this movie. Only time will tell, but I would honestly not be surprised.
The only thing (except for the rocky beginning) I had an issue with was the ending, and I mean the last few minutes. Without going into spoilers, the movie does everything to end, and then, it decides not to do that and adds something that feels very Hollywood-y. From what I understand, the book ends where the film logically should have ended, so the end is on the filmmakers, and although I understand why they thought they had to do it, I wish they hadn’t. I don’t want to write anything more, but once you see it, you will know what I mean.
Besides those few things, though, I enjoyed The Idea of You much more than I thought I would. This film is paced well; I was never bored, the movie addresses a few important issues we deal with nowadays, but, most importantly, Anne Hathaway carries it on her shoulders and makes it into something much better than it had any right to be. Even if you are not into rom-coms, I think it’s worth watching this one for her performance alone to see how I wish more actors approached rom-coms.
Overall, The Idea of You surprised and entertained me with little to no cringe, which is rare for modern-day rom-coms. It has a reasonable runtime, young hot people doing young hot things (like travelling across multiple countries and living their lives), but, most importantly, it has Anne Hathaway reminding you why she has been a star for over two decades and counting. Quite honestly, I didn’t think I would recommend it, but I am recommending this film because, as far as rom-coms go, you can do much worse.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke
