Anyone But You (2023) is directed by Will Gluck and stars Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, Gata, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Charlee Fraser, Darren Barnet, and Hadley Robinson. The film follows Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) after a magical first date that ends with a terrible misunderstanding. Because of this misunderstanding, the two passionately dislike one another. Sometime later, fate intervenes. The two are both invited to attend the same wedding in Australia. Both Bea and Ben’s exes are likewise attending the wedding. When the family attempts to reconnect both couples, Bea and Ben decide to fake a relationship in order to quell all of the unwanted matchmaking. Will their fake romance end in shambles or develop into something a bit more genuine?

The chemistry between the two stars here is a mixed bag. They have some natural chemistry but it’s never as strong as it should be due to the very lackluster script. Sweeney gives a decently alluring and vulnerable performance, but my biggest issue is that she mumbles far too often. It got to the point where I legitimately could not understand what she was saying half of the time. I don’t particularly enjoy criticizing an actor for how they speak, but articulation is likewise an important part of the job that shouldn’t be ignored. Powell is equally charismatic and proves himself to be a capable lead actor. He’s just not good enough to elevate some of the lesser comedic moments the film has to offer. The rest of the cast is significantly underutilized here. None of them have any true defining characteristics and pretty much only serve to foster tension between the two leads. It also doesn’t help that most of these characters’ comedic moments fall completely flat.  

One of the film’s overarching issues is how predictable and unoriginal everything is. The “meet cute” to start the film is pretty standard and somewhat lacking in laughs. It also results in the film showing its hand far too early. We know exactly how things are going to end because we’ve seen this structure a countless number of times. Tension between the leads quickly develops, but we never for a moment believe any of it matters. We know where it’s going. I also found it hard to connect with any of these characters on a personal level. They’re all extremely rich and live in nice New York City penthouses. The wedding takes place in Australia with seemingly no expense spared. They have lavish private parties every day during the week leading up to the wedding. These people just felt like they were so far removed from reality that I just couldn’t connect. I felt that the few messages the film had to offer would have been better served with a more everyman setting/approach. It just feels like a bunch of producers sat a table, realized they had an open spot in their release schedule, and quickly tried to fill it with the attitude of “hot stars, beautiful location, write the script as we go.” 

The few things that save the film are the periodic romantic tension between Sweeney and Powell as well as the fact that the film doesn’t overstay its welcome. The pacing is quite good and although it’s never particularly funny, it’s never painfully boring. The Sydney, Australia setting also does a bit of work in terms of making the film more visually appealing. A lot of eye-candy here both in terms of the cast and setting.

Overall, this is a pretty forgettable and unoriginal romantic comedy that is only saved by the fact that it isn’t completely unbearable. It just doesn’t succeed in the most important ways in which a romantic comedy should. I barley laughed, sometimes not even being able to pinpoint what the joke was in the first place. The romance is mostly unconvincing and makes the pretty weak argument that we should hate our significant others as much as we love them. Is that supposed to be an uplifting message? I can only see myself recommending this film if you are a die-hard rom com fan or if you are a big fan of either of the two leads. C-