The Idea of You | Film Review

When Solène (Anne Hathaway) takes her daughter (Ella Rubin) to a music festival, she finds herself falling for the lead singer of a boyband (Nicholas Galitzine).

I was really looking forward to seeing this one! I've seen a few bad fanfiction-based movies, but this one had an interesting concept, and it had Anne Hathaway in the lead role, so I was immediately invested!

I really liked this film! I knew I probably would, but it was a lot better than I thought it would be.

I loved Solène as the main character. I took an instant liking to her because she's well-written, likeable and authentic. Even if you can't relate to her life, you immediately want to be her friend. And this is true of most of the characters.

One of the biggest plot points of the film are issues surrounding the age gap between the couple, but for me this never felt particularly weird. I think if there was a more visually noticeable age gap between the main actors, this could have worked against the film. But because the characters were a somewhat natural fit, the audience is immediately on their side.

Growing up in fandom culture really added to the film's authenticity for me. Everything felt realistic, including the issues that the couple face from the media and public.

Another thing that felt authentic was the band's music. I was surprised to see that Galitzine sang some of the original songs written for the film. He did a great job and the music really worked for the type of boy band this was about.

The film's conflicts are obvious and predictable, but that was expected and made for a fun watch.

It was so much sweeter and cuter than I expected, and I absolutely loved the ending.

Overall, this is probably the best fanfiction-based movie I've seen. In fact, I think it sheds that label to become just a regular romance. It was light, sweet, and the actors had great chemistry. Definitely worth a watch!

7/10