'Anyone But You' Is Cringe for those Who Embrace Cringe

By Dustin Rowles | Film | December 23, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Film | December 23, 2023 |

Here is what I know: Will Gluck, the director and co-writer of Anyone But You, is an underappreciated comedy director. He directed the last great teen studio romcom, Easy A, as well as the best Annie, with Quvenzhané Wallis; and Peter Rabbit, a family movie that was better than it had any right to be. I also know that Will Gluck understands chemistry because he’s behind one of the best couples in the history of romantic comedies:

I also know this: Glen Powell is a solid romcom leading man, because I saw it in a Netflix movie called Set It Up that coasted by on the charms of Powell and Zoey Deutch. I also know that Sydney Sweeney can act because I’ve seen her in Euphoria and White Lotus, from which she has two Emmy nominations.

So, what to make of Anyone But You, which is not bad, nor particularly good, but it is tonally different in an interesting way that I can’t quite put my finger on. The screenplay comes from Gluck and Ilana Wolpert, the latter of whom is best known for her work on High School The Musical: The Musical: The Series. For those who haven’t seen HSMTMTS, it’s also surprisingly good (or at least, the first and third seasons are), and it succeeds largely based on its earnestness. It is not subversive, cynical, or ironic: Oliva Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, and others say and sing to each other in very direct, earnest, and romantic ways, and the Disney+ series can get away with it because it’s YA; it’s for tweens and teens who have not yet been beaten down by life.

The tone in Anyone But You feels like an extension of that, an intentional effort to drop all the ironic, detached, quippy, clever, or droll ways in which the romance in romantic comedies can be leavened for people who can’t handle sweetness in large doses. It’s very cringe at times, but again, it feels intentional. There’s a recurring gag (that ultimately pays off during the end credits) where Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s characters sing Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” loudly and without an ounce of irony. I wanted to crawl under my seat and die, but I also admired it.

Anyone But You is genuinely as formulaic as they come. Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) hit it off one night after randomly meeting in a coffee shop. They fall for each other, but Bea gets freaked out and runs out the next morning. By the time she comes to her senses and returns, she overhears a hurt Ben defensively talking shit about her to his best friend, Pete (GaTa). Six months later, they meet again because Bea’s sister (Hadley Robinson) is marrying Pete’s best friend (Alexandra Shipp).

It’s a destination wedding, so Ben and Bea — who hate each other at this point — have to stay in the same house, and despite their hatred of one another, agree to pretend to be a couple so as not to sabotage the wedding. They hate each other until they don’t. We’ve all seen this movie a million times, except instead of Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, it’s Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.

Powell pulls off Gen Z McConaughey, a Goldman Sachs fuckboi with commitment issues. Sweeney’s Bea is nothing like a Hudson character or really like any other rom-com female lead, either, except maybe Olivia Rodrigo in HSMTMTS or Anne Hathaway in real life. The earnestness comes off as tin-eared in the trailers and a lot of times in the movie, too, but there is something to be said for embracing the cheese. There are actors that can take a corny line and make it cool. Powell and Sweeney, however, lean into the corniness — it’s a deliberate choice, and I don’t know if I like it, but I can’t say I don’t like it, either. And it’s not just Sweeney and Powell, either. GaTa — the GaTa from Dave — plays the scene-stealing best friend and says things “Yes, King! You get clean!” without an ounce of irony.

Anyone But You is definitely not going to go down as a classic romcom. I don’t even think I’d call it a good one, but it’s different, and it just might present a new earnest approach to studio romcoms for a generation that’s grown up on Netflix Christmas movies.