Review
The Idea of You (Romance, Drama) [Based on Novel] (2024)
Director: Michael Showalter
Writer: Michael Showalter, Jennifer Westfeldt, Robinne Lee (Based on Novel by)
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, Reid Scott
Forced to accompany her daughter and friends to a music festival, a single mother stumbles across the trailer of a boy band member, mistaking it for the ladies' room. This involuntary meeting cultivates a passionate romance neither would soon forget.
As an adaptation of Robinne Lee's novel of the same name, this feature provides an impassioned romance between unlikely partners. Its director, Michael Schowalter, is perhaps most known for 2017's "The Big Sick", having debuted his directorial career in 2005 with "The Baxter", producing plenty of features in between. "The Idea of You" has been produced by Amazon MGM Studios, Welle Entertainment, and I'll Have Another Somewhere Pictures while being distributed by Amazon Prime Video.
The near 40-year-old mother of one, Solène (Anne Hathaway), has planned a solo camping trip as her despised ex-husband takes her daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) and her friends to Coachella. An unfortunate interruption occurs when ex-David (Reid Scott) is called urgently to provide damage control at work. Thus, it rests on Solène to accompany the group to the music festival, where she has an impromptu meeting with one of the boy band August Moon members—their sudden meeting leads to a stirring relationship from Europe back to the U.S.
Through an unconventional relationship, Schowalter uses Lee's narrative to confront societal pressures in a hopelessly romantic venture.
Near every teenage fangirl would imagine their favourite love song performed by their idol is about them; in Solène's case, this has become a confronting reality. An unintentional meeting between her and boy-band member Hayes Campbell provides undaunted romance drama in a situation that dissolves into a fever dream. These emotions combined form a powerful whole, unafraid to deliver on the unavoidable results of such an unusual relationship within modern society, whether due to admiration or jealousy.
Enough attempts are made each year to provide romantic highs, and "The Idea of You" might not feel distinct in comparison, although the alcove it finds itself provides emotion all its own. As Hayes and Solène find their hearts entangled, the pressure becomes unbearable, the public eye fixed onto them and society's stigmas being unjustly hurled towards their person—a moment where teenagers are shown insensitive and cruel creates depth, both forming heart-wrenching moments and reinforcing the realism of this script. If anything, these core notions show that the film is not on the straight-and-narrow, as the playful beginnings with Hathaway's Solène stand-offishly reacting to Galitzine's advances lead to amorous delights and inconceivable pressures.
An ultimately hyper-aware integer feature provides another hit for Amazon Prime, where it feels like a tamer version of "Marry Me"—it proves so much more effective in disparate ways. It is to be admired when a cinematic feature takes it the extra mile, including a completely original album just to reinforce a fictional band, like "Marry Me" and "Studio 666" did too. In addition, intelligent inclusions of actual TV and social media create an immersion that never feels forced, drawing you further into a romantic yarn.
Verdict
More than just an idea.
8,0
