'The Idea of You' is Everything I Hoped It Would Be

A little Harry Styles fanfic and a lot of rom-com energy starring two hotties

Courtesy of Prime

Last night, Beth and I sat down to watch The Idea of You on Amazon Prime Video. If you know me, you know that I am the exact target audience for this movie. Middle aged single mom dates hot British boy bander? I could have written this myself. Well, I will admit that I’ve written my own versions of this fanfiction multiple times. If you ask nicely, maybe I’ll share a very small bit of it, but no promises.

The book version of The Idea of You has been on my TBR list for YEARS. Like, if you were to go to my Goodreads, it’s on the last page of my “want to read” because that’s how long ago I bookmarked it, lol. I don’t remember how I heard about it, but if I had to take a guess, it was probably in the One Direction slack I was in. (Yes, I’m in a 1D Slack community that is mostly now defunct. The rule was you had to be older than the youngest member, Harry Styles, at the time you joined the group. I was in my early 30s when I joined, as were the people I became closest to. Those old broads are some of my favorite people!)

Anyways, the book was a topic of conversation because whether author Robienne Lee intended it or not, it was basically seen as Harry Styles fanfiction. How could it not be? It was released in 2017, and presumably written in the years before that, while Harry was still in One Direction. Also, the main character, Hayes Campbell, is British. If they didn’t want comparisons, then they should have made him American and not given a first name that also starts with H. For me, the HS comparison was a major selling point because I was in over my head obsessed with Mr. Styles. (tbh, that hasn’t changed) I was intrigued by the story, and I wanted to read it, I just never got around to it.

When I found out they were making a movie adaption of The Idea of You, I was pretty stoked. Then I found out it was starring Anne Hathaway as Solène Marchand and Nicholas Galitzine as Hayes Campbell and I knew I was absolutely going to watch it. I’ve loved Anne Hathaway since The Princess Diaries (which I will write about another time), and adored Nicholas Galitzine in both Red, White & Royal Blue and Bottoms. I knew Nicholas could sing, and he’s the closest thing to a Harry Styles  knockoff you can find. I was obsessed from the minute I saw the trailer. 

Courtesy of Prime

I LOVED THIS MOVIE. It would have been really easy to make it over the top and ridiculous, but the screenwriters, Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt did an amazing job grounding the story with a real emotional core. Anne and Nicholas are both wonderful actors who really understand that romantic movies still need to be grounded in something real to be convincing. I thought the whole cast was absolutely lovely, and fun fact: one of the members of August Moon is played by a former student of Beth’s! I also really loved the choice to age up Solené’s daughter Izzy, because it gives them more to play with. The ramifications of this kind of relationship are much different on a teen versus a tween.

The thing we loved the most was the way Solené carried herself. Despite her broken heart and vulnerability, this was a woman who moved with strength. Hathaway oozes sex appeal, and it was on full display here. I recognized it in the bemused way she initially dealt with Hayes at both Coachella and his arrival at her gallery. This is a woman who has seen things and isn’t going to be easily charmed by a British accent. Maybe it’s because I am now much closer to 40 than I am to 30, but I felt Solené in my bones. 

I did appreciate that the movie was less than two hours, but I also feel like I wanted a little more of Solené interacting with people her own age. It would have given a little additional context for what pushes her into a relationship with someone 16 years younger than her. I did love the moment with her best friend where they discuss the age difference and how her friend was against it when it was Solené’s ex, but not for Solené. One of my best friends was married young and when she got divorced, she started hooking up with younger men. I was 100% on board for her to do something that felt good to her.

It would have been really easy to make Hayes a caricature of boy band tropes, but they took the time to give him depth, which Galitzine executed expertly. I don’t know how much research he did, but he nailed the suave, charming yet goofy personality that Harry Styles always exudes. I also appreciated the fact that Hayes was never disillusioned with his fame or celebrity, but that he understood what the job entailed. There was a moment where he says he doesn’t know what he would be doing if he wasn’t in the band, and that felt so real. Hayes is never the boy bander driven by a need to be the biggest star in the world or an intense desire to go solo. He loves music, and he is grateful he gets to do something he loves, even though it comes with a cost.

Galitzine and Hathaway have absolutely insane levels of chemistry from the first second their eyes meet. In the bigger picture, this is the only moment that feels like fanfiction, which is often built on a case of insta-love. Hayes and Solené do this captivating seduction dance, and by the time they finally kiss, it’s like, “how can this get better?” Their first sexual encounter is delicious, and at a time where there’s a constant conversation about putting less sex in movies, The Idea of You is a perfect example of how sex scenes serve an important purpose and can drive a story forward. People have sex — it’s a legitimate need for many people. Taking it out of movies, especially movies with romantic storylines, feels disingenuous to the human experience. If you don’t want to see sex in movies, that’s up to you. But you can’t say it doesn’t have a place in them. /end rant.

All in all, I liked August Moon and the way the boy band was handled. My biggest critique is that I do not think a boy band in the 2020s would dance. I feel that Gen Z/Gen Alpha would find dancing, however minimal, dated and cringe. But I loved their songs. “Closer” and “Dance Before We Walk” are certified bops. It would have been cool if they added a One Direction song as a wink-wink moment, but I get why they didn’t.

Alisha Wetherill/Prime

My only other critique of The Idea of You was that I wished there had been more conversation about the importance of women over 30 finding pleasure and doing things that make them happy. I think overall, the movie’s mere existence will facilitate some conversation around it, but it would have been interesting to see how/if they could have woven it into the story in a way that didn’t feel forced. Solené has spent her younger years in complete service to her family, and her relationship with Hayes finally forces her to prioritize herself and her needs. I don’t want to give away the ending, but I think it would have been a good space to have the female characters have a heart to heart.

Beth and I have already declared that this is a movie we will absolutely be watching again. It was fun, funny and deliciously sexy — everything a good romantic comedy needs. If you were on the fence about this, give it a watch. It’s the perfect weekend movie.