If the Hallmark Channel decided to add profanity, it might look a little like 鈥淎nyone But You.鈥
Hardly a 鈥淏ridesmaids鈥-level rom-com, it spends considerable time at the beach, in the pool and on rescue boats, simply to get Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney聽 into skimpy swimwear (or nothing at all).
When they鈥檙e not modeling the latest fashions, they鈥檙e sharing intel on everyone in the wedding party. The film, you see, is built around unheard truths that have a passing connection to Shakespeare (thus all the quotes plastered around various scenes).
In truth, the film is hardly that ambitious.
The two stars meet at a coffee shop where she鈥檚 desperate to use the bathroom but can鈥檛 wait in an oh-so-long line. He pretends to be her husband, gets the key and soon, the two are talking and dating. When an overheard comment suggests this isn鈥檛 leading to anything serious, the two split and figure that鈥檚 that.
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Flash forward and they鈥檙e both invited to a lesbian wedding in Australia. They go, but pretend they鈥檙e a couple to get the others off their backs. Then, it鈥檚 just a matter of getting him out of his swim trunks and her into the harbor and, supposedly, hilarity ensues.
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney star in "Anyone But You."聽
Not quite.
Used to being second bananas in films like these, Powell and Sweeney have a bit of a hurdle making audiences believe they鈥檙e sincere. He has that half-cocked grin that worked in 鈥淭op Gun: Maverick鈥; she has that classic eye roll that made her a hit in 鈥淭he White Lotus.鈥
Playing this sincerely becomes a problem 鈥 particularly for writer/director Will Gluck, who must embrace a Nancy Meyers world with classic sidekicks.
Once the wedding party is set (Dermot Mulroney, GaTa, Bryan Brown and Michelle Hurd are here, too), it鈥檚 just a matter of putting them into play with the two unlikely lovers. Powell seems game to move up the ladder (those abs, alone, should land him a TV series); Sweeney doesn鈥檛 quite know how to be the sweet law school dropout without playing the snark.
Australia's a great place for a wedding as Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell discover in "Anyone But You."
Gluck puts them in interesting situations (though someone should have rescued them from Sydney Harbour sooner) but doesn鈥檛 quite know how to pull them out.
Naturally, there鈥檚 a ruined wedding cake, a handful of euphemisms, a 鈥淭itanic鈥 re-creation and another man who complicates the emotional dynamics.
All鈥檚 well that ends well, you might say. But there鈥檚 an awful lot of fussing about just to make this seem like it鈥檚 a comedy.
