Anyone but You” starring Sydney Sweeney (Bea) and Glen Powell (Ben) is already arguably one of the most popular romantic comedies of the year. This movie has swept over social media even before it was released with cheating rumors that Powell and his former girlfriend broke up because of his chemistry with co-star Sweeney. Those rumors have been debunked by the actors but definitely brought traction to the release date.
Immediately following the movie’s release it swept social media for the second time. Videos from all over the country showed people dancing out of the movie theaters to the song “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. The song playing during the movie’s climax and ending.
“Anyone but You” is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” The main connection between these two stories are the characters, and the plot line of two people who have an immediate meaningful connection only for it to be broken through lies and deceit. Another similarity is the quick witty banter and arguing between Bea and Ben throughout the story.
The movie starts out with Bea entering a coffee shop with the urgent need to pee. She’s bantering with the barista trying to convince her to break their restroom policy because of her emergency. The barista doesn’t seem to listen and tells her to get in the line to buy something, but it seems like it would be hours long to go through. Ben is the next person in line and asks Bea, a random stranger at this time, what she would like to drink and if she wanted some bread for the grilled cheeses they were going to make that night for supper. Bea goes along with it and they pretend they are husband and wife so that she can use the restroom. When she gets out of the bathroom he hands her the peppermint tea he ordered for her and they proceed to walk around the city having a romantic date. They even make the fated grilled cheese and Bea falls asleep in Ben’s arms after a long night of deep conversations.
Bea nervously awakens the next morning and leaves without saying anything. When she turns back to apologize and explain that she didn’t know why she did that, she overhears Ben talking to his friend about how terrible she was. In reality, Ben was just hurt that she left without saying goodbye, but this is the first step in the spiral of hatred that comes next for them.
They are reunited when Bea’s sister and Ben’s friend get married. They continue to bicker throughout the whole wedding week and in the end reunite realizing that they have loved each other all along.
Overall, this movie was a feel good movie to watch and turn off your brain for a little while. What made this movie different from others was the connection that these two characters had before the hatred. It was the perfect meet-cute moment that everyone loves. So, throughout the whole movie you are rooting for them even more than a normal enemies-to-lovers storyline.
However, something that I just couldn’t seem to shake off was how narcissistic both of these people were being throughout the movie. They were bickering and causing so many problems for the wedding of their best friend and sister. Personally, I would have kicked them out of the wedding. But there’s something about when they are hot narcissists that no one seems to care about that anymore. The chemistry between these two actors was also unreal to watch that made you ignore how annoying they were being. Another element that helped was the soundtrack. The songs throughout the movie were incredible, which put you get in the right mood to root for the two little narcissists.
Moral of the story was if you’re hot and have good music, everyone will go crazy.
