The Idea of Being With You: Anne Hathaway excels in a shot-shot romantic comedy (review)
The impossible romance between a forty-year-old and a young singer. Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine are the only attractions of this conventional rom com.
Between two shows at James Gray (Armageddon Time), Toddy Haynes (Dark Waters) Or The Devil Wears Prada 2obviously, Anne Hathaway returns to the genre that saw her birth: the romantic comedy.
The idea of being with you – to be seen clearly this evening on TF1 – puts her in the shoes of Solène, a single forty-something forced to accompany her daughter and her teenage friends to the Coachella festival, when she had planned to go camping alone in the woods. While trying to go to the bathroom, she accidentally finds herself in the dressing room of Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine, seen in the comedy Bottoms and the remake of The Craft), member of the most prominent boy band of the moment and sixteen years his junior.
Butterflies in the stomach, sexual urges and everything in between: the two fall in love despite the age difference, but the young man’s superstar status terribly complicates this budding romance… Adapted from a novel whose sales exploded during the pandemic, The idea of being with you (note the devastating poetry of this title) inexplicably received a very positive reception during its screening at the South by Southwest festival. Seen from here, this little rom com has nothing to be ashamed of existing but is especially worth it for the obvious alchemy between Hathaway and Galitzine and his guilt-free speech about cougars.
The rest is very agreed and despite a certain level of acting among the secondary characters (Reid Scott, fantastic as a detestable ex-husband), the film has a hard time justifying its duration of almost two hours.
The Idea of Being With You, by Michael Showalter, with Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Reid Scott… Duration: 1 hour 55 minutes. Also available on Prime Video
