The Idea of You is absolutely a rom-com. Yet it manages to feel more substantive than the usual fluffy romance we are flooded with of late. Maybe it felt more grounded to me because the plot is about a woman of 40 who falls for a man of 24.
Solène (Anne Hathaway) runs an art gallery. She’s planning to go camping while her ex Daniel (Reid Scott) drives their 16 year old daughter Izzy (Ella Ruben) and her friends to Coachella. He backs out at the last minute and Solène is stuck herding the teens around the music festival.
She stumbles into a trailer thinking it’s the rest room. She meets Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine) and there’s a lightening strike of attraction between them immediately. She doesn’t know he’s the 24 year old lead singer of a famous boy band.
Even though Solène tries to resist the attraction, they do get together. They are seen and photographed kissing and the whole internet blows up. Life becomes impossible for Izzy in high school and Solène gets tons of hate mail.
Solène backs off the relationship for Izzy’s sake.
The film raises interesting issues about why women are so hated and vilified on social media. It looks at whether women should be ‘allowed’ to be with a younger man. It steps into questions of character and worth and how that can affect relationships. There’s a thread about how fans think they own famous people and should be able to decide how those people live their lives. In summary, there was more there than the usual happy ending.
The Idea of You was based on a novel by Robinne Lee with the screenplay penned by director Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt. It’s streaming on Prime Video.
If you watch it, please share your thoughts on the film in the comments.