THE IDEA OF YOU: 3 ½ STARS. “A rom com, that emphasizes the romance over the comedy.”
“The Idea of You,” a “Notting Hill” riff starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, and now streaming on Amazon Prime, is a rom com, that emphasizes the romance over the comedy.
Hathaway is Solène, a forty-year-old Silverlake gallery owner and single mother to Izzy (Ella Rubin). Still stinging from her husband’s infidelity (Reid Scott) and the end of her marriage, when we first meet her she is planning some quiet time, alone on a camping trip.
“What if all I need are my artists, my gallery and my friends?” she asks.
Her planned solitude is disrupted when her ex, who bought Izzy VIP Coachella tickets to a meet-and-greet with boy band August Moon, is called away on business. Pressed into becoming a chaperone, Solène has a backstage meet cute—a case of mistaken VIP bathroom identity—with the boy band’s 24-year-old lead singer Hayes Campbell (Galitzine).
Sparks fly, and later, during August Moon’s set of anthemic boy band power pop, Hayes dedicates a song to her. “I know you’re a little bit older,” he sings, “but I want to get closer to you.”
Despite their age gap—”I’m too old for you,” she says. “I could be your mom.”—romance blossoms. Each have trust issues, but quickly bond and before you can say the words generation gap three times, he invites her to go on tour with the band.
The glow of their whirlwind romance is soon dimmed as the echo effect of his celebrity reverberates around Solène and her daughter, and, because this is a rom com the couple has to break up to make up.
“The Idea of You” reveals its rom com DNA early on. It leans toward the romance over comedy, stressing the relationship ups-and-=downs over everything else, but it follows the tried-and-true formula to a “t.”
So, not many surprises, but there are many laughs sprinkled throughout, and the chemistry between Hathaway and Galitzine keeps the well-worn journey interesting. Hathaway brings vulnerability, warmth, wit and charisma to a character who reluctantly falls head-over-heels for Hayes. Galitzine oozes charm, and is a credible enough boy band star, but takes pains to make Hayes more than a teen dream heartthrob. Screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt gives him plenty of room to infuse the character with the same kind of insecurities—“That’s my greatest fear,” he says, “that I’m a joke.”—and desires that plague people who don’t decorate the covers of glam magazines.
It’s the spark between the two leads, along with a strong supporting cast, that elevate “The Idea of You” from formulaic rom com to a romantic good time.
