Anyone But You: A “Bummer” in Other Ways But A Box Office Winner

When Will Gluck’s Anyone But You opened in theaters at the end of December, it was an enormous smash. Anyone But You, now available on Netflix, is a disappointment in many respects. There is a reported major joke about the hero’s butt. However, we’ll talk about it later.

Anyone But You is a bit of an oddball to start with. I wish I could describe it as a comedy for adults. There are many sex jokes. However, they’re all the same type that teens exchange on WhatsApp with each other. To their credit, the main performers Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney have a mercurial aura that adds a spark to an otherwise dull romantic comedy, or “rom-con,” as the blurbs smugly proclaim.

This is basically a modern retelling of the Doris Day-Rock Hudson romances from the 1950s, in which the pair enjoyed hurling insults at one another to the point that we had to say, “Barber re barb!”

There are moments when the prose in Anyone But You is quite lively. There is a bathroom in a café in the prologue of Harry Meets Sally, er, Bea Meets Ben. It’s really a very strong beginning. The next one-night stands—which are similar to One Day plus sex—end disastrously when Bea hears Ben complaining about her on the phone to a friend. His intentions are unclear to me.

And thus the protracted hostility starts. The audience is less energized by Bea and Ben’s mutual malice than by the pair themselves, who are aware that they are behaving hostilely (on two levels), and we find the act to be almost intolerable.
We are forced to watch them argue while well aware of where this is going—to a wedding, that is. The main dish of the trash feast is a lesbian wedding, and the whole show is rendered in tones that are both recognizable and ethereal.

Charlee Fraser’s Margaret, who can’t help but stick to her principles even in the face of difficulty, is a refreshing change from the ‘other lady’ persona that was introduced to the wedding feast.

It’s okay to argue as long as it’s not insulting. However, the humor literally becomes anal at that point. Bea delves into Ben’s buttocks and pulls out a crab during a protracted scene. At this point, the movie stopped being adorable and started to become rather gory. It seems as if an American Pie movie suddenly adopted the garish colors of a Disney production. It is pure serendipity that has given us this episode. How unfortunate!

The rom-com’s whole effectiveness rests on the antagonistic relationship between the quarreling pair and the supporting cast’s ability to pass for concerned guests who are interested in the fate of the violent, “row”-manic couple.

Ultimately, the ensemble works well together despite the plot’s blatant absurdity. If you’re one of those moviegoers who doesn’t really care about romantic alliance intricacies, then Anyone But You will engross you in its unstoppable absurdity.