There’s something initially, strategically encouraging about the existence and positioning of Sony’s glossy romantic comedy Anyone But You. Unlike the overwhelming swath of recent films within the genre (allegedly resurrected yet for those paying attention, not so much) it isn’t aiming for the streaming scrapheap, instead getting a bullish big-screen release. Teased with semi-clad on-set pictures of the lead duo – Euphoria’s teary Sydney Sweeney and Top Gun: Maverick’s tanned Glen Powell – for almost a year now, did-they-or-didn’t-they rumours egged on, it feels like the most confidently and expensively pushed romcom for a long time.
An initial teaser might have proved a little muddled – too much sex, not enough appeal – and the subsequent Olivia Rodrigo-tracked trailer might have been a little broad – tacky enough to be swiftly, brutally parodied – but surely there must be something there, something to explain why a studio would ambitiously launch a film in a commercially questionable genre fronted by two untested upstarts? Surely?
