Review of ANYONE BUT YOU: Ample Ado

January 19, 2024

After a chance meeting in a coffee shop, Ben (Glen Powell) and Bea (Sydney Sweeney) hit it off great right away. However, they never met up again because of what Bea overheard Ben say to his best friend Pete (GaTa). Only when they were both invited to the wedding of Pete's sister Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) and Bea's sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) in Sydney. Australia did the paths of Ben and Bea cross again.  And it was not pretty.

Everyone in the bridal party, including Claudia's parents (Bryan Brown and Michelle Hurd) and Halle's parents (Rachelle Griffiths and Dermot Mulroney) felt the tension in the air when Ben and Bea were together in Sydney, so they try to arrange things so that they would patch up their differences. Things get more complicated with Ben's ex-girlfriend Margaret (Charlee Fraser) and Bea's ex-boyfriend Jonathan (Darren Barnett) get into the picture.

"Anyone But You" follows the formula that all rom-coms have followed since the time of William Shakespeare and "Much Ado About Nothing." Leading man and leading lady meet each other and liked each other, only to be separated by a series of silly misunderstandings, only to get back together again for a happy ending. This one basically stayed right on the old course, but just with wilder complicating circumstances delaying the inevitable. 

In this one, like all other rom-coms over the years, the misunderstandings could have been easily discussed and cleared up right away. But as this was a comedy movie, they let the misunderstanding fester to absurd extents in the name of so-called "fun," doing more things to confuse issues more than to clarify them. These gags also get physically raunchy though not really funny, like the prolonged butt groping scene, and the wayward spider scene. 

Glen Powell gained mainstream attention as Tom Cruise's nemesis in "Top Gun Maverick" (2022). He went all out here in the name of sex comedy, getting shirtless a lot more times than it seemed necessary, and even going all the way awkward nude at one point. Sweeney is very pretty, but not always successful being funny. The romantic chemistry between Powell and Sweeney was inconsistent, as it came and went depending on the scene.  5/10.