Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
He’s been a star athlete a few times, Prince Charming in “Cinderella”, The UK’s Prince in “Red, White & Royal Blue”, among other roles tailored for heartthrobs, so it was only a matter of time before Nicholas Galitzine was cast as a British pop singer romancing Hollywood superstar Anne Hathaway.
Based on a book of the same name by Robinne Lee, the 2024 romantic-drama “The Idea of You” follows an unexpected romance between 40-year-old art curator Solène (Anne Hathaway) and 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), who is the lead singer of an extremely popular boy band called “August Moon”. The two meet accidentally at Coachella, the music festival, where Solène is chaperoning her teen daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) and friends.
The plot is rather thin — Solène and Hayes are utterly smitten with each other, but soon her insecurities about their age difference and the intense media scrutiny begin to strain their nascent relationship. Nevertheless, Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine make a refreshing onscreen duo, with their chemistry as Solène and Hayes sending the temperatures soaring in “The Idea of You”. The actors are charming, cute and sensual in their portrayal of a ‘newly in love’ couple.
Solène’s confidence issues as a single mother on awkward terms with her cheating ex-husband is very believable. The media coverage and harsh headlines over her dating a younger man is a satirically entertaining critique of just how invasive, rabid, and rampaging tabloids can be to women. “Hayes Catches a Cougar,” says one of the many distasteful headlines about Solène. On the other hand, “The Idea of You” makes viewers recognize that women can be sexy, desirable regardless of their age and do not have to settle down for the next available man they meet. Then there’s obviously the subtle dig at societal hypocrisy – how nobody bats an eyelid when a man dates someone decades younger than them, but all hell breaks loose when a woman does the same.
Since Hayes is in a popular boy band, “The Idea of You” features a pretty catchy soundtrack, the kind that’s fun to listen to for a little while but then quickly becomes dated. Like Solène’s daughter says in the movie, “August Moon is so seventh grade”. Nicholas Galitzine belts out some of the romantic tracks in the movie with his impressive singing chops, fitting right into the role of the lead singer.
Unfortunately, despite its nearly two-hour runtime, “The Idea of You” never deeply explores Solène’s romantic connection with Hayes. They are simply portrayed as two attractive individuals gallivanting across Europe and engaging in physical intimacy, with music being their sole shared interest. Although Hayes is described as appreciating art, he shows little genuine interest when visiting Solène’s art gallery. The plot is like a variation of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, where a wealthy, handsome character sweeps away the woman he desires with his lavish lifestyle, except that the woman is a working mother and not a naive lovestruck airhead.
If you’re after a romantic-drama that’s not too heavy and showcases a storybook romance between a mega pop-star and an everyday working mom, “The Idea of You” can prove to be a delightful choice for the weekend.
Rating: 6 on 10. Stream the film on Prime Video.
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