‘The Idea of You’ REVIEW: Fanfiction is just fiction
‘The Idea of You’ REVIEW: Fanfiction is just fiction
Hayes and Soléne in The Idea of You / Taken from the Official Trailer
I wouldn’t be the first critic to compare Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You to a Harry Styles fanfiction. However, I do have to say, its strengths lie in the parts that do feel real, while its flaws lie in the fact that half of it indeed feels like nothing but fiction. We follow 40-year-old single mother Soléne (Anne Hathaway) as she unexpectedly falls in love with 24-year-old boyband heartthrob Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine) while the two decide to keep it a secret from her daughter and the rest of the world.
Perhaps because I watched this as a One Direction fan, the first half was uncomfortable for me, especially at this point in time when the band is off pursuing their solo careers and speaking out about their experiences as part of a boy band — specifically how it harmed their development as children and how it exposed them to older people who would take advantage of them.
As a fandom that started as kids and grew to become adults, fans continue to use social media to apologize for promoting this culture and not thinking about how it affected the boys at the time. It was just recently that the fandom realized the dark truths behind the lives of their idols and that the fanfiction we wrote as kids was nothing close to reality.
So, in 2024, it was a bit surprising to watch this film, especially when put in the context of Hayes Campbell — someone who grew up with neglectful parents, so we can’t help but feel bad for him being in this situation.
I know this is something not everyone will agree with me on. While there are parts of the film that directly attack it, like that pre-makeout scene in the trailer where Soléne says “I’m too old for you,” and Hayes says “No, you’re not,” it still doesn’t convince me that Hayes wasn’t in a vulnerable position when he made this decision.
Anne Hathaway, who has earned so much of our respect with her acting throughout the last two decades, drives the story. Soléne’s “B plot” with her daughter and her “C plot” with the rest of the world judging her were the most compelling parts of the film. She arguably saves the film in the second half.
I just wish we saw more exposition between her and her daughter Izzy (Elia Rubin) because of how complex Izzy’s emotions must have been in these moments, where she wasn’t angry that her mom dated one of her childhood idols but rather because she kept it a secret from her, which was the ultimate strain on their relationship that I doubt a mother would be able to comprehend in a single conversation.
Towards the end, it was very evident that the intention of the film was good — to give feminist criticism on how the world imposes double standards for women, as shown in the falling action when everyone shames her. I very much agree that the media is unfair to women and we get criticized for almost everything, but the “A plot” of the story centering on their age gap just isn’t the most powerful medium to send that message.
The Idea of You is now streaming on Prime Video.
