Romantic comedies have truly been making a comeback recently. The Shakespeare-inspired rom-com Anyone But You starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney made $214.9 million at the box office. The latest rom-com, The Idea of You, has an excellent start with reviews debuting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Idea of You stars Anne Hathaway playing a 40-year-old single mother who falls for a 24-year-old singer played by Nicholas Galitzine. After festivalgoers saw this rom-com at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 16th, critics have been loving it. So much so that on Rotten Tomatoes, the Michael Showalter-directed film has debuted at 100% based on 10 reviews.
This is an incredible feat since romantic comedies haven’t been doing so well the past year. We’ve experienced flops like Love Again which experienced mediocre reviews and was a box office flop. Netflix’s Your Place or Mine had critics finding fault in the chemistry between Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon. Then there’s Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel‘s Shotgun Wedding which got “mixed to average” reviews of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes. With The Idea of You, it’s a nice change of pace to see a rom-com succeed.
What Have Critics Been Saying About The Idea of You?
All of the reviews so far for The Idea of You have been nothing but positive ones. Richard Whittaker from the Austin Chronicle felt audiences would experience a modern rom-com mixed with drama and feel-good vibes.
“The fact that you’ll care so much proves yet again that Showalter has perfected the modern rom-com.”
Slant Magazine gave the romance film three out of four stars feeling it was one of Anne Hathaway’s best performances in a while.
“Michael Showalter’s film feels like both a return to form and step forward for Hathaway, who hasn’t lent her mega-watt charisma this successfully to a romcom in at least a decade.”
It’s true as Anne Hathaway made her debut with rom-coms like The Princess Diaries movies and Ella Enchanted. But, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen her in a successful film of the genre. Matthew Monagle of The Playlist felt The Idea of You had all of the elements of an excellent book-turned-film.
“The Idea of You is an example of the romance novel adaptation done right, an outstanding balance of chemistry and joke density that never talks down to its audience.”
With an initial 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating of the book-adapted movie, we may have a streaming hit on our hands. Get ready for those feel-good emotions to roll in with the Amazon Prime film’s release date set for May 2nd.
