Anyone But You
By Tara McNamara,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
"Sexy Shakespeare" adaptation has nudity, sex, pot, cursing.
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Anyone But You
Community Reviews
Based on 9 parent reviews
Great movie
Much Ado About Nothing with lowest common denominator humor
What's the Story?
In ANYONE BUT YOU, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) have moved on since their promising one-night stand ended badly. But when Bea's sister, Halle (Hadley Robinson), and Ben's best friend's sister, Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), plan their destination wedding in Australia, the two grit their teeth and agree to get through the festivities with as little awkwardness and resentment as possible. But when Bea and Ben discover that their exes (Darren Barnet, Charlee Fraser) are also attending the celebration, they make a pact to make their animosity look like amore to spurn one and attract the other.
Is It Any Good?
Comical, modernized Shakespeare adaptations are a clever way to introduce youth to the Bard, but "sexy Shakespeare" may leave parents as cold as Powell's naked behind on a July day in Australia. Inspired by Much Ado About Nothing's B-plot, the bickering Beatrice and Benedick -- who, in the original play, are tricked into falling for each other by Elizabethan-era lovers Claudio and Hero -- here become Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell), with the tricksters reimagined as Claudia (Shipp) and Halle (Hadley Robinson).
Writer-director Gluck is no stranger to adapting classics to appeal to a youthful crowd: He first had a hit when he turned required-reading staple The Scarlet Letter into high school comedy Easy A. But bringing any levity and relatability to a puritanical Nathaniel Hawthorne novel is likely to be seen as a win by teens. Much Ado, on the other hand, is already considered a great comedy from one of history's greatest playwrights. So the bar is set high, and while Anyone But You is amusing, Gluck doesn't quite clear the hurdle. Bea and Ben are funny, but they're also self-absorbed jerks who conspire to break up one couple and embarrass Bea's good-guy ex. Who exactly are we rooting for here? But thanks to the casting of appealing actors, the presence of Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" throughout the film, and the characters' new-adult-accurate dialogue (note: add "hot girl fit" to your lingo, and remove "cringe"), Gluck's end result is diverting enough that teens and young adults are highly unlikely to notice its flaws.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the meaning of the phrase "a thin line between love and hate." How is it relevant to Anyone But You?
Did watching this movie inspire you to learn more about its source material, William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing? What are the similarities and differences? What's the advantage of putting a modern-day spin on classic literature? Teens: What are you reading in school that you'd like to see as a movie?
Is drug use glamorized here? Are there realistic consequences? Why does that matter?
The main characters are Ben and Bea, but, considering their plot, are they the protagonists or antagonists? Can the same characters be both?
Movie Details
- In theaters: December 22, 2023
- On DVD or streaming: February 20, 2024
- Cast: Sydney Sweeney , Glen Powell , Dermot Mulroney
- Director: Will Gluck
- Inclusion Information: Female actors, Female writers
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- Genre: Romance
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters
- Run time: 103 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: language throughout, sexual content and brief graphic nudity
- Last updated: March 21, 2024
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