The latest romantic comedy to hit theaters — “Anyone But You” — illustrates a modern take on Sheakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Released in theaters nationwide on Dec. 22, the film was directed by Golden Globe nominee Will Gluck.
After a picture-perfect first date gone wrong, Ben (Glen Powell) and Bea’s (Sydney Sweeney) fiery affinity turns ice-cold. When fate intrudes a year later, Ben’s close childhood friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) and Bea’s sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) get engaged, and they wind up together at a destination wedding in Australia.
As the pair’s hatred threatens to ruin plans, the wedding party plots a ruse to get them together to make peace. Compounded with the attendance of Bea’s ex-fiance Jonathan (Darren Barnet) and Ben’s ex-girlfriend Margaret (Charlee Fraser), the couple realizes that playing into this may be the solution to their problems. That is until their feelings become real.
Over the past couple of years, the romantic comedy genre has fallen out of popularity. Figuring out the right combination of heartache and satire is a science, and storylines can often be obvious or take the raunchiness too far.
“Anyone but You” is one of the few recent movies to proudly and properly achieve its place in the genre. It had me laughing out loud and brought me to tears by the finale.
This Shakespeare-based movie is the first to be rated R for language, brief nudity and sexual content. Most of the Shakespeare movie adaptations take place in high school, but focusing on post-college adults gives this film more flexibility.
Though it rightfully earns its way into the R category, the language and content were reasonable and balanced.
Guilty of being quite the hopeless romantic, I thoroughly enjoyed watching “Anyone but You.” The movie executed the humor, anguish and heart warmth practically flawlessly. I applaud the directors and writers for taking a chance on our society and finally bringing back the essence of a wholesome romantic comedy.
Rating: 4/5