Plot: Solène Marchand is a 40-year-old single mom who, at her ex-husband’s request, takes their teenage daughter to Coachella. In a surprising turn of events, Solène strikes up a budding romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, a famous boy band

Review: Whether you like it or not, we live in an era when fan fiction can be turned into big-screen feature films. From Twilight grew Fifty Shades of Grey, and both franchises made a lot of money for their producers. The popularity of boy band-turned-solo artist Harry Styles has been transformed into a bestselling novel and now the feature film The Idea of You. If the mere idea of the source of this story fills you with dread, this is not the movie for you. But, if you are a fan of well-acted movies, Anne Hathaway delivers again. The Idea of You is much more than a single line of plot synopsis can convey. With some steamy moments in equal measure and some funny ones, The Idea of You is a solid romantic movie that we do not see very often anymore, thanks to the chemistry between Anne Hathaway and co-star Nicholas Galitzine.

The Idea of You opens with single mother Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) preparing for a solo camping trip. At the same time, her ex-husband (Reid Scott) takes their daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) to Coachella for a meet and greet with her childhood favorite boy band, August Moon. On the eve of her fortieth birthday, Solène is forced to change plans and take her daughter and her friends to the concert. She has a meet-cute with one of the band members, Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine). Sixteen years her junior, there is an immediate spark between Solène and Hayes, but Solène is not interested in pursuing a relationship. As romances go, they continue a courtship, which results in the pair coming together romantically while trying to keep it secret from Solène’s daughter and the global fanbase that follows Hayes wherever he goes. For the film’s first half, the story follows a pretty expected will they/won’t they formula before the reality of their romance rears its head.

What makes this movie work when so many fan-fiction-inspired adaptations have failed is the believable chemistry between Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galatzine. The idea that Anne Hathaway is old enough to portray an “older woman” or a “cougar’ is ridiculous in its own right, but by playing Solène as having had her daughter right out of college and the ramifications that put on her youth and broken marriage adds to the dynamic of her reluctance to enter the risk of dating a world-famous pop star who is also almost two decades her junior. Hathaway can play well above and below her actual age, but this character may be the first time I can recall her portraying someone true to her real years. It also helps that Nicholas Galatzine plays Hayes as youthful but far from naive, knowing what he wants and respecting the challenges his celebrity brings for someone in a completely different phase of their life. But the root of romance, especially the kind that makes this story work, comes from portraying something fantastic while also credible and tangible. The Idea of You never feels like a comedy or a joke, even though it does have a sense of humor.

The shortcomings in The Idea of You stem from the focus being so squarely on Solène and Hayes that everything else feels underdeveloped around them. Izzy has friends who seem prominent initially but then disappear for the rest of the movie. There is some tension between Hayes and his bandmates, notably Oliver (Raymond Cham Jr), which seems like it will be a bigger factor in the story than it is. The absence of conflict outside of Solène and Hayes makes some of the stakes in the story feel a bit underwhelming. Even the tension between Solène and her ex-husband seems more requisite to the genre than serving any true purpose in moving the story forward. Some other supporting characters, notably Annie Mumulo as Tracy, are nothing more than two-dimensional stand-ins for the main characters to spout exposition at. Still, all of those are minor quibbles with the genre formula rather than truly taking away from the overall story.

The novel that inspired The Idea of You was written by Robinne Lee and had a solid run on the bestsellers list. While a hit, issues with the story structure have been remedied in the big-screen adaptation. Written by Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein, Friends with Kids) along with director Michael Showalter, the novel carries a more mature and realistic tone than the novel and has a much more satisfying ending. Westfeldt’s experience scripting movies either focused on or featuring romance helps elevate Robinne’s Lee story from the realm of fan fiction to a quality screenplay. Equally, writer-director Michael Showalter continues his transformation as a filmmaker. Showalter mocked romcoms with the hilarious They Came Together, starring Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, before segueing into dramatic-comedy with Kumail Nanjian’s The Big Sick, action-romance with The Lovebirds, and the award-winning drama The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Showalter delivers a few truly worthy laughs in this film but emphasizes the dramatic even more.

With a solid soundtrack of original songs that will likely earn their own fair share of airplay, The Idea of You is a movie firmly outside of what I would normally watch. I appreciate a good romantic movie, but I definitely pre-judged the root of where this story came from before watching it. Within the first minutes, I had a smile on my face thanks to Anne Hathaway’s earnest performance and Nicholas Galatzine’s effortless charisma. The pair make a couple of steamy sequences worth checking out, but the thoughtful, romantic plot kept me engaged for the entire movie. You may expect this to be raunchier than it is, with only implied sex and a load of f-bombs garnering it an R-rating, but The Idea of You is a worthwhile watch for anyone who is a fan of good performances and solid romance.

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The post The Idea of You Review appeared first on JoBlo.

Get ready to be swept off your feet by the whirlwind nature of dating a famous musician. Amazon MGM Studios has just released the trailer for The Idea of You. The film is a new romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. The movie comes from Michael Showalter, the creator of the Wet Hot American Summer series. Showalter has also helmed comedic films that skew towards the dramatic with acclaimed movies like The Big Sick from 2017. The Idea of You looks to be more of a drama with some comedy elements mixed in.

The official synopsis from Amazon reads,
“Based on the acclaimed, contemporary love story of the same name, The Idea of You centers on Solène (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mom who begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. When Solène must step in to chaperone her teenage daughter’s trip to the Coachella Music Festival after her ex bails at the last minute, she has a chance encounter with Hayes and there is an instant, undeniable spark. As they begin a whirlwind romance, it isn’t long before Hayes’ superstar status poses unavoidable challenges to their relationship, and Solène soon discovers that life in the glare of his spotlight might be more than she bargained for.”

Joining Hathaway and Galitzine in the cast is Ella Rubin, Annie Mumolo, Reid Scott, Perry Mattfeld, Jordan Aaron Hall, Mathilda Gianopoulos, Raymond Cham Jr., Jaiden Anthony, Viktor White and Dakota Adan. Michael Showalter directs and co-writes with Jennifer Westfeldt, Based Upon the Book by Robinne Lee. Producers on the film include  Cathy Schulman, Gabrielle Union, Anne Hathaway, Robinne Lee, Eric Hayes, Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick. Douglas S. Jones, Jason Babiszewski, Jennifer Westfeldt, Kian Gass are the executive producers on the film.

The trailer also features a song from the band from the film, August Moon. The lead single “Dance Before We Walk” from the film’s soundtrack is out now via Arista Records. Listen HERE via all digital platforms. The full Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be available in tandem with the film’s release. Pre-Order available HERE.

The Idea of You is set to have its World Premiere at SXSW Festival on March 16 as the closing night film. Then it will launch globally on Prime Video on May 2.

The post The Idea of You: Anne Hathaway becomes involved with a famous pop musician in the new trailer appeared first on JoBlo.

Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, Wet Hot American Summer) is preparing to adapt Robinne Lee’s best-selling romance novel into a film for Prime Video called The Idea of You. Anne Hathaway is already signed on to star and will be joined by Nicholas Galitzine (Purple Hearts, Cinderella) for a story that finds its characters attending a music festival.

Showalter is directing The Idea of You, which tells the story of Sophie (Hathaway), a 40-year-old divorced mother. Sophie’s husband Dan ended their relationship to be with a younger woman, and now he’s canceled plans to take their 15-year-old daughter to Coachella, one of the largest (and hottest) concert events of the year. Sophie, fed up with Dan’s negligence, decides to take Dan’s place as their daughter’s chaperone. During the fest, Sophie meets Hayes Campbell (Galitzine), the 24-year-old lead singer of the world’s most popular boy band, August Moon. Wow, between 4*Town in Turning Red and Boyz 4 Now of Bob’s Burgers, are boy band story arcs suddenly in vogue? Is a BTS road trip adventure film in the works too?

As it turns out, Galitzine will star in Red, White & Royal Blue, a movie my partner is dying to see. Uma Thurman, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Clifton Collins Jr., Stephen Fry, Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, Aneesh Sheth, Polo Morin, Ahmed Elhaj, and Akshay Khanna also star.

Red, White, & Royal Blue will follow the Mexican-American character Alex Claremont-Diaz (Perez), who, upon his mother’s (Thurman) election as President, is promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, brilliant―his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a long-running feud with his royal counterpart across the pond, Prince Henry (Galitzine). And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an altercation between the two, U.S./British relations worsen.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagramable friendship grows into something more meaningful than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could complicate his mother’s re-election campaign, upend two nations, and begs the question: Can love save the world?

Red, White & Royal Blue, based on Casey McQuiston’s best-selling novel of the same name, is a hot starring vehicle for Galitzine, whose star continues only to rise. Between Hathaway and Galitzine, the sun won’t be the only thing making Coachella unbearably hot. I’m not kidding about the heat. I went to Coachella ’06, the year Tool and Depeche Mode headlined, and nearly melted in the Indio Desert sun. My only salvation was the Heineken Air Conditioned tent.

What do you think of the premise for The Idea of You? Do you think Sophie and Hayes’ age difference will cause a stir online? Let us know in the comments.

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