The Idea of You review: 'impossible escapism' starring Anne Hathaway
Steamy romcom about a 40-year-old who falls for a boy band singer

"Anne Hathaway's career in Hollywood began 23 years ago" in a film that dramatised a classic teenage girl fantasy, said Johnny Oleksinski in the New York Post: in "The Princess Diaries", she played a geeky young woman who discovers she is actually royalty.
Now, Hathaway has delivered "a second dose of impossible escapism with 'The Idea of You'", a steamy Amazon Prime romcom in which she stars as Solène, a 40-year-old single mother who falls for Hayes, a 24-year-old pop star. Solène meets this Harry Styles-type character (Nicholas Galitzine), when she takes her daughter to Coachella, and stumbles into his trailer backstage, having mistaken it for a VIP toilet. "Sparks fly", but she then flees and he has to track her down to the art gallery she runs in Los Angeles, thus setting in motion an unlikely "celeb-and-normie courtship".
The film has bundles of charm, a "smart script" and succeeds in large part thanks to Hathaway's very "human" performance. Hathaway and Galitzine do have chemistry, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail, but the story is "uneven" and "laughably predictable", providing "loads of 'rom'" and not enough "'com'". It might have been better, too, if Hathaway looked more credibly middle-aged. "As it is, she is beyond radiant, gleaming a lot brighter than all the younger females around her. So it's no great surprise that Hayes goes weak at the knees" for her.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This "ghastly" film was adapted from a "'mummy porn' novel" by the US writer Robinne Lee, and it throbs with "intense 'fan fiction' energy", said Kevin Maher in The Times. If you were being kind, you might say there were hints here of "Notting Hill" or "Roman Holiday". But you're most likely to just wish you could demand your two hours back.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Trump uses tariffs to upend Brazil's domestic politics
IN THE SPOTLIGHT By slapping a 50% tariff on Brazil for its criminal investigation into Bolsonaro, the Trump administration is brazenly putting its fingers on the scales of a key foreign election
-
3 questions to ask when deciding whether to repair or replace your broken appliance
the explainer There may be merit to fixing what you already have, but sometimes buying new is even more cost-effective
-
'Trump's authoritarian manipulation of language'
Instant Opinion Vienna has become a 'convenient target for populists' | Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Kiefer / Van Gogh: a 'remarkable double act'
The Week Recommends Visit this 'heroic' and 'absurd' exhibition at the Royal Academy until 26 October
-
Mark Billingham shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The novelist and actor shares works by Mark Lewisohn, John Connolly and Gillian Flynn
-
Properties of the week: grand rural residences
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Wiltshire, Devon, and East Sussex
-
Heads of State: 'a perfect summer movie'
The Week Recommends John Cena and Idris Elba have odd-couple chemistry as the US president and British prime minister
-
The Red Brigades: a 'fascinating insight' into the 'most feared' extremist group of 1970s Italy
The Week Recommends A 'grimly absorbing' history of the group and their attempts to overthrow the Italian state
-
Jurassic World Rebirth: enjoyable sequel hampered by plot holes
Talking Point The latest dinosaur reboot captures the essence of the original – but leans too heavily on 'CGI-heavy set pieces'
-
Summer in Seattle: Outdoor dining like nowhere else
Feature Featuring a patio with a waterfront view, a beer garden, and more
-
Film reviews: F1: The Movie, 28 Years Later, and Familiar Touch
Feature An aging race car driver gets one last chance, a kid struggles to survive in this '28 Days Later' update, and a woman with dementia adjusts to her new life