Many film watchers may believe that the wildest concepts come from superhero movies, action thrillers, or horrors, but they don’t - that accolade belongs toromantic comedies. These are the films with the most truly unbelievable setups, those that often shirk logic (or the darker implications of their outcomes) to create a picturesque image of protagonists finding perfect, fairytale love. At first glance, it’s easy to cementThe Idea of Youas just another unbelievable one of these. Directed byMichael Showalter, the premise of a 40-year-old mother falling in love with the younger members of a famous boy band is not immediately the kind of love story most people can relate to.Yet the film does something that very few romantic comedies do: it questions its premise. It sets itself in the real world its viewers inhabit and interrogates just how a relationship as ‘unreal’ as this onewould actually play out for the pair at its center. In taking this grounded approach, it not only showcases some deeply resonant themes about the treatment of women in society, but also creates an earnest romance unlike any other in the genre.
The Idea of You
Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.
Romantic Comedies Are Fairy Tales - That’s Not Always a Good Thing
For many, movies are a form of escapism from the real world, with romantic comedies likeThe Idea of Youbeing one of the best mediums for just that kind of activity. Media juggernauts like the MCU have built a brand on unreal situations, but long before fans flooded theaters for comic book movies, they were entranced by stories of people falling for one another in some of the most fantastical situations ever offered by cinema. From50 First DatestoThe Lake House, the romantic comedy genrethrows its protagonists into wild premisesand develops a series of heartwarming contrivances that has themsomehow fall in love and achieve that always aspirational ‘happily ever after’.These accompany the movies that avoid delving into their dark implications likeThe Wedding Planner, ones that implore watchers to let any questions about what the protagonist’s actions say about them as people end when the credits roll. It’s a close second to the literal fantasy genre in creating inconceivable situations, and while it is overwhelmingly enjoyable, it means very rarely can viewers truly understand and resonate with the love at its center.
The Idea of You’spremise could easily paint itself as just another romantic comedy that can only be enjoyed if you don’t think too hard about it. It focuses on Soléne (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old mother who shepherds her daughter to Coachella and ends up meeting famous 24-year-old boy-band member, Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine).What follows is a whirlwind romance, one that sees the two navigate the ups and downs of having a public romance with a noticeable age difference and the unfair way the media treats women.The film could have allowed this age gap to serve as your basic plot hook without showcasing the complexities of themes like ageism and misogyny, but it refused to. It insteadpresents a well-rounded understandingof just how chaotic, troubling, and ultimately painful it would be to pursue a love like this, and by showing each step of it to the audience, it makes the beautiful ending feel that much more deserved.
In ‘The Idea of You’, Love is Hard Work
Maturity is a complex concept, one thatThe Idea of Younails perfectly.Too often, ‘maturity’ in rom-coms is conveyed as bitterness, with protagonists growing cold to the idea of finding their true love due to previous indignities. This film, though, understands that maturity in romance doesn’t equate to annoyance, it means understanding; the film takes ample time to display Soléne’s pain over being cheated on by her ex-husband andhow she puts her daughter above all else,so when sparks begin to fly between her and Hayes, both she and the audience recognize the dangerous potential that could come from following her heart. It’s this nuanced recognition of the risk that makes it so exhilarating to watch as she decides to do it, accompanying him on his world tour with the two falling deeper and deeper in love at each stop. It’s because she approaches the relationship in such a well-rounded way that makes it so endearing - but just like it showed the realities of a love like this, the movie also highlights the terrifying nature of public opinion that viewers know all too well.
When the press discovers that Soléne and Hayes are together, thousands of profiles and publications launch a misogynistic campaign against the woman, not only endlessly critiquing her physical appearance and life choices but also making disgusting comments about her daughter.This is a kind of discriminatory rhetoric that modern online users sadly see daily, and it’s because of this judgment that, ultimately, Hayes and Soléne break up; seeing her daughter being bullied in school is the final straw, and in an utterly heartbreaking scene, Hayes woefully understandsas she explains why they can’t be together. He adds a caveat, though: in five years, when Izzy is in college and the world has moved on to terrorizing the next woman who dared find happiness publicly, they would try again.
So many romantic comedies like to sum up their story with a perfect climax, a relatively easy one where the pair finds one another and any complications melt away as their ‘love conquers all’. In reality, even the healthiest relationships often have to grapple with the complications that fill people’s daily lives. This couple’s compromise is a realistic one that fans luckily get to see reach fruition when, five years later, the pair come together as in love as they ever were, their reunion so much more wonderful to those watching because we’ve witnessed all they had to fight through to get to it.
‘The Idea of You’ Understands Real Romance
Every person deserves some escapism in their media, if that’s what they’re looking for, and the romance genre shouldn’t be faulted for meeting that need. Romantic comedies are often so heartwarmingly unbelievable to give people a reprieve from the harsh truths that real-life dating is often filled with. ButThe Idea of Youis able to embody immense amounts of the passion and humor people love this medium for,all while recognizing the real struggles that would go into a relationship as intricate as Soléne and Hayes'. It doesn’t skirt aroundthe devastating factors that would complicate this pairing, rather it uses these to its advantage in establishing one of this genre’s most relatable characters in Soléne - aided greatly by Hathaway’s exceptional acting - and creating a love story that the audience can actually see parts of themselves in. It is a true innovation, managing to accurately place this wild story into the real world while making one of the most beautiful love stories this genre has ever seen along the way.
The Idea of Youis available to stream on Amazon Prime in the U.S.
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