I think when I first started thinking about what I was going to get out of Anyone But You, I assumed it was going to be beautiful straight white idiots eyefucking each other, but it’s not! This is the raunchiest Shakespearean adaptation I’ve ever seen and the smartest raunchy comedy I’ve been to in awhile. Anyone But You was not billed as an adaptation of Much Ado in its trailer. It’s Tiktok approved soundtrack that left Brother swooning by the end and Sydney Sweeney, hot off her world-conquering tour this year, along with Glen Powell, that old guy from Top Gun Maverick, ensured this was a steamy romcom with no fucks to give about your sensibilities, but little did we know it had no fucks to give about your SENSE and SENSIBILITIESSSSS. Not a Shakespeare joke not sure why I did that sorry.
Being somewhat familiar with Much Ado, the ways in which the storyline alters the original plot is really exciting. In Anybody But, Ben(edick) and Bea(trice) are in on the joke, not duped into falling in love but rather part of the duping for their own reasons. The opening sequence which justifies their frosty reunion is straight fire. There are elements of queering the narrative which are kind of cool and the casting has injected a much more diverse cast that I think actually goes beyond the magical negro and black best friend tropes by being just super absurd in the best of ways. The absence of a Leonato character who inexplicably devises the plan in the first place, as well as the lack of a villain like Don John makes the plot flow a lot more. No creepy old guys pulling the strings, just hot people fucksing about. There isn’t an infidelity subplot for Hero either and no faking your own death shit, so in a lot of ways, the plot changes make Anybody into a totally different animal with some of the trappings of the original story, just the vibes, please ma’am. If I had to explain it to someone who liked the Shakespeare, I would say it’s streamlined the plot by removing blocking characters and added the twist of dramatic irony on the part of its lead characters, but then added the twist of them catching feelings.
All the things that this movie does to make Glen Powell into a low status character are strokes of genius. The way he swims. The constant harping about his age. His states of undress. Every animal in this movie has a starring role: the koala experience, the spider, the dog. ALSO, Sydney Sweeney does the meme!
