'Anyone But You': The Triumphant Return Of The '00s Rom-Com

Yesterday, December 22nd, 2023, will forever be known historically as the day rom-coms made their triumphant return to the cinema. For almost a decade, we all believed rom-coms to be a thing of the past, a phenomenon that dominated box offices in the '00s. But yesterday, Sony Pictures defied the odds and brought rom-coms back to the big screen. And so far, the audiences love it.

At the time of this writing, Anyone But You sits strong on Rotten Tomatoes with the audience at 86%. And as you might expect with any great movie that the audiences love - you guessed it - the critics seem to despise it; or well, some of them do anyway.

Anyone But You was bound to appeal to at least the '00s rom-com lovers, as it followed the traditional rom-com formula to the T.  Rookie film writer Ilana Wolpert - taking a page from all the old rom-coms like 10 Things I Hate About You starring Julia Stiles (based on Taming of the Shrew), Get Over It starring Kirsten Dunst (based on A Midsummer Night's Dream) and She's The Man starring Amanda Bynes (based on Twelfth Night) - based Anyone But You on the Shakespearian play Much Ado About Nothing, so the story was already built on a solid foundation, but modernizing it makes for much greater fun. The story centers around Bea (played by Sydney Sweeney, and based on the Shakespearian character Beatrice) and Ben (played by Glen Powell, and based on the character Benedick), and their weekend stay in Australia for Bea's sister Halle and Ben's friend Claudia's same-sex wedding, two years after Ben and Bea's one and only date, which ended with the two practically hating each other. But when Ben realizes his beautiful ex-girlfriend has been invited to the wedding also, and Bea's ex-boyfriend has also been invited, the two devise a plan to pretend to be a very new couple for the weekend, in order to make Ben's ex-girlfriend jealous, and signal to Bea's ex-boyfriend to back off, because she's no longer interested. All seemingly goes according to plan for awhile, until the two accidentally begin to fall in love with each other...

Wolpert obviously didn't feel the need to hold back one bit writing her script despite choosing to pen a rom-com genre film, as she clearly knew her newly-adulting target demographic - teenagers during the aughts - aren't teens anymore. They're now in their late-20s to mid-30s, and would these days much prefer to see a funnier, more entertaining R-rated movie than a PG-13 one that has to reign in the suggestive themes.

The many twists in the plot and crude sexual humor, along with Sweeney's shapely bikini-clad body, make for a highly entertaining hour and forty-five minutes. The time flies by though, since the story paces so excellently and keeps you laughing hysterically throughout the duration.

Glen Powell really brings his character to life. But it's Sweeney that really steals the show here, and brilliantly plays a slightly awkward law school graduate student who's only dated one guy in her entire life. Powell and Sweeney have amazing onscreen chemistry, and it makes for a very believable pair that can't quite figure out exactly how they feel about each other.

As of the time of this writing, we have no box office data on this movie whatsoever, as we're not even through the first weekend yet. But this movie deserves to blow up big, because it's hilarious, entertaining, and well-written. And, I was especially impressed with the unique and original marketing campaign that was created for this film. The trailers are interesting, and seeing Powell and Sweeney on pre-roll YouTube ads doing sexually-suggestive ASMR is hilarious, and cleverly hints at their excellent onscreen chemistry in the actual film. It seems the marketing was well-targeted for this film, and theoretically should draw crowds at the box office the weekend before Christmas and leading up to the New Year.

Anyone But You is arguably one of the best films of 2023. The fact that a rom-com is able to land that title in the '20s is up to you to determine whether or not that's a good or bad thing - but it's well-deserved nonetheless. This film is heartwarming and fun, and by the end of the movie, you really want these two characters to be together. For my fellow cinematic pessimists out there - please go see this film, and watch your cynicism get cut through like a hot blade through butter, because Anyone But You is all but guaranteed to leave you feeling great as the credits start to roll - and it doesn't even feel the need to rub wokeness in your face. It's just good, old-fashion storytelling, stellar acting, and crude, raunchy humor - and that's why the moronic critics hate it so much, while all us movie-goers are truly loving it. And for that, we here at EndingPolitics.com wholly recommend Anyone But You, and give it two big thumbs up, and a solid three and a half stars, and in our opinion, is in the running for what may be the single-greatest rom-com of all time.