The edgy romantic comedy, Anyone But You was released on December 22nd, 2023 and was a perfect watch during the holiday season. The movie was rated 87% via the audience (rottentomatoes.com) resulting in a 4.1/5 rating. It was an incredibly humorous film, but at some points a serious tear-jerker.
The movie begins with the two love interests Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glenn Powell) meeting for the first time in a way that isn’t very conventional to say the least. Bea then asks if Ben would like to go out with her and Ben agrees, taking her back to his apartment and spending the cutest quality time together. Cooking together, dancing, sharing deep thoughts, legitimately the most perfect date to a T, and then finally falling asleep on the couch with each other. Bea then wakes up before Glenn and leaves the apartment before he can wake up. She calls her sister to tell her about the wonderful night she had with Ben, and then quickly realizes that leaving without saying goodbye to your ‘wonderful date’ is usually frowned upon in the world of dating.
This part of the movie had me inaudibly screaming at Bea in the theater for leaving Ben because I knew this would be the one of the major conflicts of the movie.
Bea then turned around running toward Ben’s apartment complex, and once she got to the doorway, she overheard Ben talking with a friend saying that Bea is the most “messed up girl” he’s ever met in his life.
Hearing this in the theater made my heart shatter for Bea because it was very clear Ben was saying that out of a place of hurt because Bea had left without saying anything, but Bea did not deserve to have those things said about her, let alone right in front of her face.
After that gut wrenching eavesdropping session, Bea cut off all contact with Ben and planned to never see him again. Until they were unknowingly brought together again at a bar where Ben’s friend Pete (GaTa), coincidentally the friend that Ben said those awful things about Bea to, has a sister named Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) who is dating Bea’s sister Halle (Hadley Robinson). Both Bea and Ben meet again after six months, and the love that was once in the air is dead. They go back and forth bickering with passive aggressive innuendos about why their date went so horribly.
This part was quite humorous because in the real world, these two would probably hide from each other; but in a world where the plot needs to thicken, it was all sly and on the thin line between playful and hateful bickering.
The timeline fast forwards to Claudia and Halle getting married in Sydney, Australia where Claudia and Pete’s parents live. Bea then reveals that she broke up with her fiance and also dropped out of law school.
I feel as though this was a very forced bit, the incorporation of getting back together with the ex boyfriend and then getting engaged and breaking it off in a six-month time period was just a little weird to me and one of the faults of the movie that just added messiness.
Bea and Ben conveniently are on the same flight to Sydney and are ecstatic to learn that they’ll be staying in Claudia’s parents’ house together for the days leading up to the wedding. Their bickering becomes too much for the wedding party, and they come up with a plan to turn Bea and Ben into love birds again. Unfortunately, Bea sees right through their plan and creates her own scheme with Ben, to pretend to date each other for the sake of their loved ones’ wedding, and to make Ben’s ex-girlfriend jealous who was also attending the wedding.
Watching the scene where Bea and Ben were hatching this plan felt so nostalgic of other rom-coms which was slightly comforting but also felt a bit stale, at this point in the movie I was afraid the movie was going to be just another rom-com.
Bea’s parents, who love Bea’s ex fiance dearly- invited him to the wedding and to stay with them, telling him Bea wanted him there. When he shows up, Bea and Ben are putting on their show of the lovey-dovey couple they want to be perceived as- in front of both of their exes.They were trying desperately to show everyone that they were actually into each other; going to the craziest extents.
This part gave me some hope for originality because there were some raunchy bits that were hilarious and honestly made me burst out laughing in the theater that you’d never find in an early 2000’s rom-com.
Their efforts to have a real looking relationship were failing up until a yacht party, when Bea and Ben are recreating the iconic titanic scene, when Bea accidentally slips and falls into Sydney Harbor. Ben jumps in to save her, and they both make it on to a buoy awaiting a rescue helicopter. While waiting, Bea reveals to Ben that she quit law school, and that she wants to go to the Sydney Opera House. They both make a date to go there together, and it was clear that they were having real feelings for eachother in this moment.
This was the cutest part of the entire movie because you could tell that their feelings for eachother never went away, they were just covered up by resentment for something they never understood.
They make it back to the house and reenact their first date, but the outcome is a bit steamier than it was the first time around. Bea then blurts out the majority of the decisions she’s made recently have been regretful mistakes, disappointing Ben. He then leaves the bedroom while she’s still asleep, disheartening her when she awakens.
This part upset me as a viewer because there were many things he could do in this moment, such as NOT leaving and asking her what she meant.
The day of the wedding, Ben’s ex girlfriend asks Bea if she and Ben are serious, and if they’re not, if she could have Bea’s blessing to try and get with Ben. Bea reluctantly responded with “we’re situationally together” and that he really likes his ex-girlfriend.
This made me so sad to see because she felt so defeated after waking up to Ben not being there, so she said that even though it was painfully obvious she didn’t mean it.
Exacerbated, Ben accidentally tells Bea’s parents she quit law school through a conversation with Pete, leaving Bea feeling even more betrayed, telling the entire wedding party their relationship has been nothing but a show. The day of the wedding, Ben overhears Claudia and Halle arguing about how Bea and Ben’s behavior is affecting the entire wedding. Ben then reconciles with Bea asking to pretend to be happy for one more day, and Bea agrees. But after Bea sees Ben and his ex-girlfriend kiss on the dance floor at the wedding, she snaps and leaves the wedding to calm down at the Sydney Opera House. Right after she left, Ben told his ex-girlfriend he does not want her anymore, then goes looking for Bea.
This scene made me so happy but sad at the same time because if Bea would have stayed just a few more seconds she would have saw that Ben pulled away and told his ex that she’s not what he is looking for, but instead Bea was gone.
The wedding party convinced Ben to go find her, and he knew exactly where she went. To get there, he jumped into Sydney Harbor and told Claudia to call for a rescue helicopter. The helicopter arrived, and dropped Ben off at the Sydney Opera House. Ben apologized for walking out on Bea, and said that he was afraid their relationship would be another one of Bea’s regrets. They reconcile, going back to the wedding reception as a couple. Claudia and Halle then reveal their argument was another scheme to get Ben and Bea back together. All was well in the world of Bea and Ben, and the wedding was a total success.
This movie was such an adorable yet raunchy spin on a rom-com that had an equal amount of humor and lovey-dovey scenes. It was such a great watch and had such a unique flare to it that really kept me engaged. The casting of the love interest couldn’t have been better in my opinion, Glenn Powell and Sydney Sweeney did a remarkable job. I give this move an A- because although it was an amazing movie, it lacked a bit of rhythm and some of the time-frames didn’t align or make much sense to me. But overall I thought it was a great movie.
