(MA) 103 minutes<\/strong><\/p>\n Were we all duped? Yes, I think we were all duped.<\/p>\n For months, Anyone But You<\/em> \u2013 the anticipated, Sydney-shot romantic comedy from director Will Gluck (Friends with Benefits<\/em>, Peter Rabbit<\/em>) \u2013 had built stunning momentum on its behind-the-scenes bona fides, leaked shots of its attractive leads Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell canoodling off set and playing up the \u201cDid they or didn\u2019t they?\u201d intrigue around their screen chemistry, to the point that onlookers had already earmarked the film as rom-com\u2019s great box office hope, a return to the big, steamy, oversexed delights of the genre\u2019s Y2K-era peak.<\/p>\n Glenn Powell, Sydney Sweeney and Sydney Harbour go broad in the new rom-com Anyone But You.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Brook Rushton\/Sony via AP<\/cite><\/p>\n But now, it all makes sense. Watch the movie; there\u2019s no way these guys hooked up. Whatever sparkling chemistry we thought we saw in the film\u2019s immaculate PR drip-feed, it\u2019s barely there in the final product. (Coincidentally, what is there is a producer credit for Sweeney\u2019s real-life fiance Jonathan Davino \u2013 no wonder she was so unbothered by the intrusive headlines.)<\/p>\n Loosely based on Shakespeare\u2019s Much Ado About Nothing<\/em>, the film follows Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell), one-night hook-ups turned enemies, who are forced to spend a week with each other at her sister\u2019s and his friend\u2019s destination wedding in Sydney. It\u2019s not easy for spurned lovers to be civil, but they agree to fake a relationship, to keep the peace for their families and friends (a motley crew including Bryan Brown and Rachel Griffiths) and to induce the jealous attraction of their exes (Aussie newcomer Charlee Fraser and a criminally underused Darren Barnet).<\/p>\n Loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing, the film hits all the familiar rom-com sweet spots.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Brook Rushton\/Sony via AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Much Ado About a Nothing<\/em>, with its bickering lovers guarding finer feelings under barbed swipes and emotional subterfuge, has long proved a template for screwball comedies and rom-coms, a framework so familiar the dumbest AI could churn out a script. Gluck isn\u2019t going for innovation \u2013 with its big-budget slickness, he\u2019s at least rescuing the genre from Netflix\u2019s cheap dominance \u2013 but hitting fan-service beats the same way a Marvel epic might: there\u2019s an awkward meet-cute in a cafe bathroom, a hijinks-heavy set-piece where clothes come off, a helicopter, a wedding dance and roll credits to a cast singalong.<\/p>\n For some, this might be enough. But the leads\u2019 stilted chemistry \u2013 at least when not half-naked \u2013 doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n Sweeney, for all her onscreen magnetism, is not a comedy natural \u2013 she\u2019s at her best when she\u2019s sullen and aloof, a bombshell with an inner complexity that\u2019s hard to pin down (see: The White Lotus<\/em>, Euphoria<\/em>, this year\u2019s Reality<\/em>). It\u2019s an unfair bar, but you can\u2019t help thinking of Bea with Sandra Bullock\u2019s spunky energy or Julia Roberts\u2019 droll charm. Powell fares better, if just \u2019cause his laconic Texan drawl evokes Matthew McConaughey, the genre\u2019s masculine icon, but with a daffiness that undercuts his suave exterior.<\/p>\n At least Destination NSW will be pleased with the film. For locals, seeing a cafe at Barangaroo doubling for Boston might be confusing and, like me, you might spend half the film pointing at the screen and muttering \u201cPfft, the Grounds of Alexandria\u201d as Powell walks by obvious landmarks such as the Queen Victoria Building in the city, but it\u2019s an interesting experience seeing Sydney depicted onscreen with classic Hollywood romanticism.<\/p>\n Oddly enough, the movie\u2019s best gags are about our coffee culture. This is how the world sees us? In a film that\u2019s much ado about nothing, it\u2019s something to hold on to, I guess?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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