The Idea of You Movie Review

The Idea of You (2024)

Rent The Idea of You on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: Robinne Lee (novel), Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt (screenplay)
Directed by: Michael Showalter
Starring:  Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.

Verdict
It's pretty much a standard romance movie, but the added depth of she being divorced, his immense celebrity, and their age gap adds a lot to the story. There's a push and pull to these plot elements. Being with a celebrity brings so much added attention, but she's also happy. This is someone that makes her feel special again, something she had lost when her husband became an ex. The problem with the age gap is that she frequently feels out of place and it makes her question the very relationship. I wish this ended differently, but being a romance movie this could only end one way.
It depends.

Review
This isn't Showalter's first rom-com, he also  directed The Big Sick.

The plot is a standard rom-com. Two people fall for each other but there are numerous obstacles preventing them from being together. The celebrity factor of this makes it an easy comparison to Notting Hill, star crossed lovers put into the spotlight and not prepared for it. What sets this apart is the age gap and setting. Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine) is a celebrity and that creates an inherent problem when trying to date anyone, much less someone much older like Solène (Anne Hathaway). The age difference also makes it more salacious. Would this have a stronger negative reaction if the genders were reversed? While not as large a gap, A Star is Born also deals with celebrity. The only commentary the movie makes on genders and age gap is boiling it down to how much you like the people in the relationship.

Nicholas Galitzine, Anne Hathaway play Hayes, Solène

We get a meet cute between the two. He's interested, and she's flattered as a divorced mom that's not in the dating scene. They start a fling after he shows up in her art gallery and buys all the art. She's hesitant due to his celebrity, and the attention he generates. You get the feeling he's used to getting his way. Despite liking him, she never tells anyone about their relationshiop. It's not shame as much as not wanting all of the extra attention. She starts to feel self conscious on tour as she's much older than the band and their entourage. Those feelings intensify when Solène realizes she isn't the first older woman Hayes has pursued. The subtext to this relationship is that her ex husband made her feel terrible and foolish. She meets Hayes and feels special again. That is right up until she feels like another one of his tour girlfriends and leaves. Despite ending it, word gets out they were dating. How could it not? It was inevitable.

This does take a few shortcuts for the sake of the story, but I don't blame it. This wants to highlight their differences. She knows it can't last and the ways it could fail. There's a risk. He's young and in love. Solène has to put her daughter first. The movie has given us a lot of ground work with her ex-husband that helps us understand her decisions and feelings.

Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine play Solène, Hayes

There's a balance and push-pull with the plot elements of the movie; between her happiness and her daughter, her old relationship and the new one, as well as the lies from her husband and her omission of Hayes. What little we see of her ex-husband says a lot. He's someone that always makes us root for Solène. Pursuing this puts her in a spotlight she doesn't desire.

I wish this left the ending more ambiguous, but this wants to check all the boxes for the standard rom-com. It's a great example of the genre, but there are two distinct places where I would have ended this earlier. The ending of the movie apparently differs from the book. Is it nice that love wins out, sure, but circumstance often overrides love. The thing is, this is a romance movie, and those end a certain way.  My biggest wish for this movie is that at the conclusion it left us humming a song or wanting to hear a song one more time. This is a music movie with no memorable music.