Given some of the star-studded titles that have closed out SXSW in previous years, a romantic comedy that could best be described as Harry Styles Wish Fulfillment might seem like an odd choice to round out the festival. But “The Idea of You,” a Michael Showalter adaptation of Robinne Lee’s book of the same name, proves that romantic comedies, when done well, are every bit as deserving of the red carpet rollout.
With just a few weeks left until her 40th birthday, Solène (the always charming Anne Hathaway) is taking some much-needed “me” time. Newly divorced and the mother of a high school senior, Solène is torn between motherhood and her career as an art seller with little time for romantic prospects. But despite having every intention of retreating further away from society— she might be someone who likes camping, she reasons — she instead finds herself at Coachella and flirting with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the 24-year-old lead singer of world-famous boy band August Moon.
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There’s a spark there, but Solène is skeptical. Part of this is the age gap, of course–Hayes is young enough to have been her teenage daughter’s teenage heartthrob–but Solène has consciously put her own romantic needs on pause for longer than she cares to admit. When Hayes extends the opportunity to drop everything and travel with his band, she decides to take the plunge, kicking off a whirlwind romance that will soon make her a household name in gossip rags around the world.
In 2005, Showalter made his feature film directorial debut with “The Baxter,” a kind-hearted romantic comedy about a man determined not to be left at the altar. While nowhere near as overtly metatextual as that film, “The Idea of You” balances the expectations of both characters and audience members in much the same way. And because Showalter understands the mechanics of the romantic comedy as well as any filmmaker working today, “The Idea of You” will deliver as much as subvert audience expectations.
Of course, any qualifiers we might add to a romantic comedy–intelligent, subversive, what have you–only work if the romance works first. Hopefully, folks have very few doubts about Hathaway’s charm and movie star appeal, but Galitzine more than holds his own as the object of her affection. Performance carries a lot of weight for a film like this; we may understand on paper why each character feels genuinely seen by the other outside of fame and failed marriages, but it only works if chemistry and pacing give the proper time for the actors to build something organic between them.
There are versions of “The Idea of You” that play up the age gap between characters–cultural disconnects between the two that telegraph why their relationship might fizzle out–but Showalter and co-writer Jennifer Westfeldt recognize there is a more interesting story here. The age gap is a nonfactor until the world around them makes it one; the cracks in their relationship only begin to show when the pressure is piled on from the outside. It’s a small distinction but an important one–and one that allows “The Idea of You” to carve out a more compelling narrative about celebrity culture.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the film isn’t afraid to sizzle. For at least a few weeks this spring, we can skip our annual dialogue about American romances trending toward the sexless. “The Idea of You” sets the spark on an animal attraction between Solène and Hayes and, for what may appear on the outside as a relatively buoyant rom-com, makes surprisingly good use of its on-set intimacy coordinator.
Granted, much like the characters themselves, “The Idea of You” cannot live in the moment forever–eventually, the narrative must drive the film towards conflicts and resolution. Once the veil is lifted on our star-crossed lovers, the plot begins to outpace the performances, running both actors through a series of right-hand turns that rush to the film’s ending moments. These turns make sense, but the film saves too many of them for its final stretch, creating a minor whiplash when it comes to what Solène and Hayes will and will not sacrifice in order to be with each other.
Ultimately, though, “The Idea of You” is an example of the romance novel adaptation done right, an outstanding balance of chemistry and joke density that never talks down to its audience. Given his absurdist streak as a writer and as a performer, Showalter’s evolution as a mass-market filmmaker remains one of the stranger turns for the genre. But love, like comedy, works best when what we want and what we expect isn’t always in perfect alignment. [B]