Anyone But You is a rom-com loosely based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It uses similar character names, silly misunderstandings, a few quotes from the Bard plastered about the sets, and very broad humor. It’s been modernized to include a lesbian wedding, mixed race couples, lots of skin, and koalas.
Anyone But You didn’t invent anything new. It used every trope in the book and then some. But it did it with panache! There was a great cast, good chemistry all round, beautiful shots of Australia, and plenty of goofing around.
Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) meet in a coffee shop. They have a night together. They fall in love, then spend the next few months pretending to hate each other.
Pete (GaTa) is Ben’s best friend. His sister Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) is about to marry Halle (Hadley Robinson). Halle’s parents (Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths) make a cute video announcing that the wedding will be in Sydney, Australia.
Speaking of Halle’s family, guess who her sister is. Yep, it’s Bea.
Rachel Griffiths got a laugh out of me when she described how friendly and wonderful the Australians are. Sydney Sweeney looking for spiders in Glen Powell’s butt was pretty funny, too.
Claudia’s parents (Bryan Brown and Michelle Hurd) had a palace of a place in Sydney, right on the beach. That meant there were near naked (and sometimes totally naked) bodies all over the joint because of swimming (and sex), showering (and sex), and spiders.
There were the usual smashed wedding cakes, helicopter rescues, exes who want another chance, and big dance numbers. Exactly like Shakespeare, right?
I rate Anyone But You higher than usual for a rom-com. It was funnier than most, had a hilarious blooper filled roll of the credits, and left me feeling great. It’s streaming on Netflix. If you watch it, please share what you thought of it in the comments.