“Anyone But You,” directed by Will Gluck, features up-and-coming actors, Sydney Sweeny (Bea) and Glen Powell (Ben), as the two embark on a classic enemies to lovers trope set in Sydney, Australia.
Main characters, Bea and Ben, have a sour taste in their mouths for each other after an awkward first encounter. However, they find themselves at the same destination wedding in which the wedding party tries to trick them into dating. But Bea and Ben have other plans and retaliate by pretending to act as “mates” to keep the others off their tail. This makes for some hilarious interactions between the two that keeps the viewer guessing about the nature of their relationship throughout the movie.
The plot is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” another story of love trickery. But the problem with this film is not the plot, it’s Sydney Sweeny and Glen Powell delivering a half-baked performance. The chemistry between the two throughout the movie is undeniable. Some of the best scenes were ones when they were the only two on screen. But I can’t say I felt a consistent performance from either of them throughout. The scenes that involve either of them interacting with other characters is cringeworthy every time.
In classic rom-com style the female characters tend to be written as quirky and hopelessly romantic, which is exactly what the script sets Sweeny up to be. But she did not embrace this role throughout the movie leaving many times where the scenes felt flat and forced.
As for Glen Powell, something in me wishes he wasn’t in it. He adds absolutely no spontaneity to the role nor the naked eye — unless mostly naked men are spontaneous enough for you — he looks like every other conventionally attractive blonde male actor, except I had never heard of him before.
All of this is not to say that it wasn’t fun to watch, especially considering the genre. It did deliver a cheesy romance with some awkwardly hilarious moments throughout that would make a perfect watch for a girl’s/friend’s night. The set is amazing, the music is perfect and most importantly there was PLENTY of chemistry between the main characters.
