By Jenna Baker

Released on December 22, 2023, romantic comedy “Anyone But You” is taking over social media platforms with viewers describing the movie as the best rom-com since “10 Things I Hate About You,” the iconic 1999 film starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. The two films share more than just rom-com tropes, as both are loosely based on Shakespeare with “10 Things I Hate About You” inspired by “Taming of the Shrew” and “Anyone But You” drawing inspiration from “Much Ado About Nothing.”

“Anyone But You” kicks off with Bea (Sydney Sweeney, “Euphoria”), a young law student, meeting Ben (Glen Powell, “Top Gun: Maverick”), a finance guy in a coffee shop. After their meet-cute, the two of them end up spending a night together. Bea panics and leaves in the morning, but regrets it and returns to hear Ben tell his friend she was just a one-night stand.

Months later, they find themselves coming face to face when they find out that they are going to be in a wedding together, staying in the same house in Sydney, Australia. Throughout the movie, they must suppress their feelings of frustration and tension toward one another in an attempt to not complicate the wedding of their loved ones.

The movie was slightly more realistic than older romantic comedies, although it still had the cheesiness that is a prerequisite for romantic comedies. The love story was simple, making it more believable: an attractive man and woman meet at a coffee shop and end up having more in common than expected. Though viewers are used to rom-coms with a twist or a ton of dramatic events, this movie keeps it simple; no one meets a prince in disguise or is whisked away in a private jet. 

Though being your basic plot of a rom-com, it still makes for one of the best released in a while with obvious chemistry between Sweeney and Powell. 

“10 Things I Hate About You” was iconic throughout the early 2000s due to the quirkiness and heartfelt love in the movie. “Anyone But You” takes elements from this classic film as it allows the audience to laugh and not take it too seriously. Movies like this are enjoyable to viewers because it sets a relaxing tone where your expectations aren’t too high. 

The movie was rated 51 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.6/10 on IMDd, and 52 percent on Metacritic. Despite these negative reviews, lots of positive information was spread over social media platforms. The #anyonebutyou is trending with 32.8k posts on TikTok and 15.9k posts on Instagram. So even if critics didn’t like it, (and do they ever like rom-coms?), the movie-goers did.

“Anyone But You” certainly seems to be a revival of rom-coms, so we can expect more of the genre in the future.