May 2, 2024
FILM: THE IDEA OF YOU
DIRECTED BY: MICHAEL SHOWALTER
STARRING: ANNE HATHAWAY, NICHOLAS GALITZINE, ELLA RUBIN
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The Idea of You is the kind of film Hollywood used to make pretty regularly before big budget spectacles became the rule of the land. It’s a romantic drama starring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year old mother who begins a relationship with a 24-year old member of a popular boy band. Okay, THAT may not be exactly how Hollywood would have told this age difference story in the past, but you get the idea. There have been plenty of films featuring the older woman, younger man storyline, most notably Mike Nichols’ classic The Graduate. But this story is lighter than that, more contemporary, and, well, predictable enough to make it less adventurous and cinematically interesting but appealing nonetheless.
How the characters meet is a bit unlikely as Hathaway, as Solene, accidently stumbles upon the trailer of pop star Hayes, played by Nicholas Galitzine. Yet there is a mutual attraction that feels pretty genuine right from the start. Unlike other types of romantic films, their connection develops more from deep and personal conversations before anything becomes sexual. That is refreshing and it gives both characters some depth. It’s not that hard to see though where this narrative might be heading. I think writer/director Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Big Sick, Hello, My Name is Doris) could have branched out a bit from the typical tropes here to keep it from falling into expected traps. We do get not one, but two dating montages that instantly become recognizable from numerous films of the 1980s. (For some reason the Rob Lowe-Demi Moore romantic comedy About Last Night comes to mind first, minus the Sheena Easton song.) The differences here from those earlier films stems from the 21st Century style social media frenzy surrounding the relationship that develops. It’s not a surprising turn of events though given the era.
Anne Hathaway is terrific as always. She radiates beauty in a very low-key and relatable way. She hardly looks 40 but there is a maturity to the character that she embodies in a manner that many might overlook within her performance. Hathaway herself has been through the ringer during at least one point in her career (I never really understood the backlash against her after her Oscar win for Les Miserables. The fact is, she’s a very good actress.) She clearly reaches inside when the relationship leads to public jealousies and negative attention toward Solene.
Galitzine is fine as Hayes. He uses his very nice natural singing voice to inhabit his boy band stage persona. He also handles the more dramatic scenes pretty effectively. Some have said that the character, which was created for the book this film is based on, is supposed to be inspired by Harry Styles. I don’t quite see that but he has a fairly charismatic presence that takes on more than one dimension.
I’m going to generalize here a bit when I say that this is the kind of film that middle-aged women (and some men) who dream of a young male lover might really relate to. Young men with fantasies of catching a 40-year old-ish “cougar” might also feel something here, especially because of the hard to resist Anne Hathaway. Probably anyone who likes romantic films will appreciate it unless they have a problem with age differences in relationships or boy bands!
It’s not a film that breaks much new ground and it doesn’t have to. It taps into something that many people experience – maybe not having a relationship with a member of a boy band – but a May/December romance or fantasy that is sometimes hard to forget.
The Idea of You opens in limited release this week as well as begins streaming on Amazon Prime.
FILM: THE IDEA OF YOU
DIRECTED BY: MICHAEL SHOWALTER
STARRING: ANNE HATHAWAY, NICHOLAS GALITZINE, ELLA RUBIN
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The Idea of You is the kind of film Hollywood used to make pretty regularly before big budget spectacles became the rule of the land. It’s a romantic drama starring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year old mother who begins a relationship with a 24-year old member of a popular boy band. Okay, THAT may not be exactly how Hollywood would have told this age difference story in the past, but you get the idea. There have been plenty of films featuring the older woman, younger man storyline, most notably Mike Nichols’ classic The Graduate. But this story is lighter than that, more contemporary, and, well, predictable enough to make it less adventurous and cinematically interesting but appealing nonetheless.
How the characters meet is a bit unlikely as Hathaway, as Solene, accidently stumbles upon the trailer of pop star Hayes, played by Nicholas Galitzine. Yet there is a mutual attraction that feels pretty genuine right from the start. Unlike other types of romantic films, their connection develops more from deep and personal conversations before anything becomes sexual. That is refreshing and it gives both characters some depth. It’s not that hard to see though where this narrative might be heading. I think writer/director Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Big Sick, Hello, My Name is Doris) could have branched out a bit from the typical tropes here to keep it from falling into expected traps. We do get not one, but two dating montages that instantly become recognizable from numerous films of the 1980s. (For some reason the Rob Lowe-Demi Moore romantic comedy About Last Night comes to mind first, minus the Sheena Easton song.) The differences here from those earlier films stems from the 21st Century style social media frenzy surrounding the relationship that develops. It’s not a surprising turn of events though given the era.
Anne Hathaway is terrific as always. She radiates beauty in a very low-key and relatable way. She hardly looks 40 but there is a maturity to the character that she embodies in a manner that many might overlook within her performance. Hathaway herself has been through the ringer during at least one point in her career (I never really understood the backlash against her after her Oscar win for Les Miserables. The fact is, she’s a very good actress.) She clearly reaches inside when the relationship leads to public jealousies and negative attention toward Solene.
Galitzine is fine as Hayes. He uses his very nice natural singing voice to inhabit his boy band stage persona. He also handles the more dramatic scenes pretty effectively. Some have said that the character, which was created for the book this film is based on, is supposed to be inspired by Harry Styles. I don’t quite see that but he has a fairly charismatic presence that takes on more than one dimension.
I’m going to generalize here a bit when I say that this is the kind of film that middle-aged women (and some men) who dream of a young male lover might really relate to. Young men with fantasies of catching a 40-year old-ish “cougar” might also feel something here, especially because of the hard to resist Anne Hathaway. Probably anyone who likes romantic films will appreciate it unless they have a problem with age differences in relationships or boy bands!
It’s not a film that breaks much new ground and it doesn’t have to. It taps into something that many people experience – maybe not having a relationship with a member of a boy band – but a May/December romance or fantasy that is sometimes hard to forget.
The Idea of You opens in limited release this week as well as begins streaming on Amazon Prime.