There must have been an abs coordinator on the set of “Anyone But You.”
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney spend so much time in skimpy swimwear (or nothing at all), you can’t help wonder if they went weeks without eating just to look this good.
Supposedly a return to the R-rated rom-com, “Anyone But You” is really just a Hallmark Channel movie with skin and profanity. It’s built around unheard truths and has a passing connection to Shakespeare (thus all the quotes plastered around various scenes).
In truth, it’s hardly that ambitious.
The two meet at a coffee shop where she’s desperate to use the bathroom but can’t wait in an oh-so-long line. He pretends to be her husband, gets the key and, soon, the two are talking and dating. When an overheard comment suggests this isn’t leading to anything serious, the two split and figure that’s that.
Flash forward and they’re both invited to a lesbian wedding in Australia. They go but pretend they’re a couple to get the others off their backs. Then, it’s just a matter of getting him out of his swim trunks and her in the harbor and, supposedly, hilarity ensues.
Not quite.
Both used to being second bananas in films like these, Powell and Sweeney have a bit of a hurdle making audiences believe they’re sincere. He has that half-cocked grin that worked in “Top Gun: Maverick”; she has that classic eyeroll that made her a hit in “The White Lotus.”
Playing this sincerely becomes a problem – particularly for writer/director Will Gluck, who must embrace a Nancy Meyers world with classic sidekicks.
Once the wedding party is set (Dermot Mulroney, GaTa, Bryan Brown and Michelle Hurd are here, too), it’s just a matter of putting them into play with the two unlikely lovers. Powell seems game to move up the ladder (those abs, alone, should land him a TV series); Sweeney doesn’t quite know how to be the sweet law school dropout without playing the snark.
Gluck puts them in interesting situations (though someone should have rescued them from Sydney Harbour sooner) but doesn’t quite know how to pull them out.
Naturally, there’s a ruined wedding cake, a handful of euphemisms, a “Titanic” re-creation and another man who complicates the emotional dynamics.
All’s well that ends well, you might say. But there’s an awful lot of fussing about just to make this seem like it’s a comedy.
Powell and Sweeney deserve a better showcase (they’re attractive leads) but this isn’t it. “Anyone But You” is what most actors settle for, not aspire to.
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