We’re in a golden age of romance movies based on popular books, over which presides queen Colleen Hoover. There have been four movies based on Colleen Hoover novels and they’ve thus far ranged from sort of okay to entirely forgettable. But there’s no denying it can be fun to settle down with a film you know is going to be absolute nonsense and just turn off your brain while two hot people fall in love and do it and stuff. Unfortunately, once you’ve watched the four Hoover films, you’re stuck with the books until the author decides which of her stories to adapt next. In the meantime, may I direct your attention to a romance starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, which at least tries to be more than an excuse for more hot people doing it scenes.
“The Idea of You” sees Hathaway falling for He-Man in a romantic comedy that, wouldn’t you know it, is based on a book — because Hollywood will seemingly only green-light love stories if they’ve been pre-approved by BookTok. This one adapts actress turned author Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel of the same name, in which she tackled the notion of women losing their desirability post-40. The movie similarly explores this idea via Hathaway and Galitzine’s age gap relationship, and did so successfully for the most part.
Hathaway, of course, starred in the latest Hoover adaptation, the dead-on-arrival “Verity,” which was helmed by “The Idea of You” director Michael Showalter. Sadly, for those expecting a fairly straightforward romance, the “Devil Wears Prada” star spent a good chunk of the movie sitting motionless and glaring at Dakota Johnson while she stole her husband. “The Idea of You,” however, was a much better Showalter x Hathaway collab, and it’s available to stream right now on Prime Video.
Anne Hathaway falls for a boyband singer in The Idea of You
With its older-woman-falls-for-boy-band-singer narrative, you’d be forgiven for thinking “The Idea of You” is a movie that started as fanfiction. But in a 2024 TIME article, Robinne Lee pushed back against interpretations of her book being Harry Styles fanfiction and explained the real impetus for her story. “I was learning the hard way that in Hollywood, after 40, women are much less desirable,” she wrote. “The assumption was that we ceased to be sexual beings and were thus less valuable. I was eager to prove the industry—and our culture at large—wrong, in my own little way.” Lee, who criticized those who dubbed her book “fluff” or “fanfiction,” saw her story as being about “a woman’s midlife sexual awakening,” and strove to ensure it was both “tantalizing and complex.”
Much of that is preserved in the 2024 film adaptation, which Michael Showalter co-wrote with Jennifer Westfeldt. Anne Hathaway plays single mother and art gallery owner Solène Marchand, who accompanies her teenage daughter to Coachella. There, she meets Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of boy band August Moon and all round handsome English gent. Despite there being several years between the two, Solène and Hayes share an instant connection and embark on a passionate love affair. But the latter’s popstar status invites scrutiny, and as you might expect given Lee’s explanation of her novel, most of it is an excuse to attack the 40-year-old Solène for being with a younger man and generally hurl misogynistic abuse.
Can the pair’s relationship survive? You’ll have to watch “The Idea of You” on Prime Video to find out — which, if you’re reeling from the absolute nonsense that was “Verity,” is well worth doing.
The Idea of You is a salve for the Verity-afflicted
“The Idea of You” premiered at the 2024 South by Southwest film festival before going straight to Amazon Prime Video in May of that year. While that direct-to-streaming trajectory might typically indicate a less than stellar romantic comedy, “The Idea of You” actually earned some impressive reviews — a testament to Robinne Lee’s efforts to go beyond your typical romantic fiction fare as well as Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt’s ability to preserve that effort in their adaptation.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a very respectable 81% “certified fresh” critic score — a damn sight better than the 32% “Verity” managed to eke out. /Film’s Ryan Scott was certainly impressed, writing in his “The Idea of You” review, “this is the genre at its best.” Otherwise, reviewers were won over by Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine’s chemistry and performances. That’s to be expected in Hathaway’s case. The actor is usually the best thing about any movie she’s in, and while there are arguably more compelling modern Hathaway performances — her chilling 2023 thriller that flew completely under the radar, “Eileen,” being one example — she does a fine job in “The Idea of You,” conveying all the vulnerability and strength of the Solène Marchand in Lee’s original novel.
Galitzine, meanwhile, is also perfectly charming if a bit too impressed with himself. The man is no stranger to romance stories, either, having starred alongside Netflix’s romance queen Sofia Carson in 2022’s “Purple Hearts” (watch that if you want a more straightforward romantic drama). Otherwise, “The Idea of You” is a great palette cleanser for recovering “Verity” viewers but should also go down well with Colleen Hoover fans craving a bit more romance from their Hathaway-led entertainment.
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