Movie Review: Fan Fiction-Inspired ‘The Idea of You’ Mixes Comedy and Drama

If you’ve heard of Michael Showalter’s new cinematic romance The Idea of You, then you’ve probably seen the name “Harry Styles” and the phrase “fanfic movie” alongside it. Author Robinne Lee, of the original 2017 novel the film is based on, has been reported as saying she regrets revealing Styles was the muse for her male lead Hayes Campbell.

This is pretty amusing. Even if she hadn’t said anything at all, anyone familiar with the popstar and his former boyband One Direction would still see the parallels between Hayes and his fictional boyband August Moon. The movie’s female star, Anne Hathaway, has been pitching this movie around the press circuit as almost like Kevin Rodney Sullivan’s How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) but with white characters. Which is clever of her since there are still older movie fans out there completely unfamiliar with fan fiction and One Direction.

Hathaway plays divorced, single mother Solène Marchand, who is also an art gallery owner in Los Angeles. When she tags along with her daughter, Izzy (Ella Rubin), and her friends to meet and greet Izzy’s favorite boy band, August Moon, Solène accidentally bumps into frontman Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine) first.

Sparks surprisingly fly despite the 16-year age difference. Solène is soon surprised to find Hayes visiting her gallery to buy art as an excuse to see her again, which then leads to a low- key date. Within no time, Solène finds herself flying out to NYC to play groupie on the European leg of the band’s tour when Izzy is off at summer camp.

Annie Mumolo co-stars as Solène’s best friend, while Reid Scott plays Solene’s ex-husband and Izzy’s father. Outside of the obvious Styles fan fiction connection, there really isn’t much else to say about The Idea of You. Those who regularly read or write fan fiction will instantly recognize all the typical tropes presented on screen. Even those who aren’t familiar with them will still notice them because all of these tropes originated as cliches in romcoms and melodramas. This is essentially Richard Curtis’ Notting Hill (1999) with a popstar instead of a movie star.

Hathaway does her best with the material, and co-screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt puts an interesting spin on the story. But Galitzine looks very mature for his age and doesn’t really resonate as the much younger love interest he’s supposed to be. I think what should be acknowledged the most is that The Idea of You has as much drama as it does comedy.

If you go in expecting just fun “romcom vibes,” you’ll be disappointed with the serious tone the second hour decides to take. I’m a fan of Hathaway, I’ve enjoyed some of both Showalter’s and Westfeldt’s past efforts, and I like pop music and romantic dramedies. But even with all this, I’ll still probably forget about The Idea of You by next week.