---
title: "Anyone but You"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/anyone-but-you"
fi1m_id: "anyone-but-you"
imdb_id: "tt26047818"
tmdb_id: 1072790
wikidata_id: "Q118405167"
fi1m_score: 56
critics_score: 54
critics_reviews: 17
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:03.540141+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Anyone but You (2023)

Directed by Will Gluck · 1h 43m · MPA R · Romance, Comedy

## Identity

Anyone but You

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/anyone-but-you
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** anyone-but-you
- **IMDb ID:** tt26047818
- **TMDB ID:** 1072790
- **Wikidata ID:** Q118405167
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26047818/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1072790, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q118405167

**Fi1m score: 56** · Critics 54 from 17 reviews

*In a sentence:* Shakespeare’s plot, a spider in the trousers and a great deal of expensive Australian sunlight

> Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney are good company and Sydney Harbour looks well in the sun, but Will Gluck’s comedy runs on schemes instead of jokes, and we came out fond of two people and unable to quote either of them.

## Synopsis

Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) meet in a coffee shop, hit it off, and part badly the next morning after a misunderstanding neither of them corrects. Six months later they find themselves at the same wedding in Sydney: her sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) is marrying Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), the sister of his friend Pete (GaTa). Both families, led by Bea’s parents Leo (Dermot Mulroney) and Innie (Rachel Griffiths), decide the two of them belong together and set about arranging it. To stop the plotting, they agree to pretend they already are a couple. Will Gluck directs a romantic comedy loosely built on *Much Ado About Nothing*.

## Review

Will Gluck directs and co-writes, with Ilana Wolpert, a romantic comedy that takes the shape of [*Much Ado About Nothing*](https://film.one/film/much-ado-about-nothing) and moves it to a wedding in Sydney. Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) meet in a coffee shop, talk all night and part on a misunderstanding. Six months later they are at the same wedding, her sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) marrying Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), the sister of his friend Pete (GaTa), and both families decide the two of them should be together. To get everyone off their backs, they pretend they already are. It is a plot a good many comedies have used, and this one knows exactly where it is going. It is pleasant to look at and easy to sit through, and an hour after it ended we could not remember a single line.

Powell is the reason it works when it works. He plays Ben as a man performing confidence and glancing round to see whether anyone bought it, and he is at his best when the film humiliates him, which it does often and with some invention. Sweeney has the harder part. Bea is written as a woman who does not know what she wants, and Sweeney plays her guarded, sometimes to the point of blankness. But when the two of them are alone, and the script stops making them insult each other for a minute, something real happens between them. The shouting is the weakest thing they do together and the quiet is the strongest.

We laughed, out loud, at a scene on a beach in which Ben has to take off his trousers in front of both families and Powell plays it as if he were closing a deal. Then we noticed the film had gone twenty minutes without another laugh, and that the twenty minutes had been spent on a plan. That is the trouble with Gluck and Wolpert’s script. Every scene exists to push a pretence forward or trip it up, and the people in it say what the plot needs, in the order the plot needs it. The jokes are situations rather than lines, and when a situation ends there is nothing left over.

The supporting cast are given one note each. Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths, as Bea’s parents, have a running gag and not much else. Robinson and Shipp, whose wedding this is, are the least developed pair in a film about their wedding. Steven Jones-Evans’s production design gives them a house above the harbour with glass on three sides, Amelia Gebler dresses everyone in linen and swimwear, and Danny Ruhlmann shoots it all in a bright, even light in which nothing is ever in shadow. Every frame could sell a holiday. Very little of it is doing anything else.

Tia Nolan and Kimberly Boritz hold the film to 103 minutes and it still sags in the middle, where a boat, a walk and a party follow one another without the pretence getting any more complicated. Christopher Stracey, Leslie Powell and Este Haim supply a score that mostly steps aside for pop cues. The best of these is a song Ben uses to calm himself, which becomes the film’s one running joke, and the film is at its most relaxed whenever it turns up.

Gluck’s *Easy A*, from 2010, had a lead who could talk her way out of anything and a script that let her. Here the talk is plot, and the leads are left to be charming in the gaps, which they are. Against the sunny studio romantic comedies it plainly wants to sit beside, this has the stars, the sea and the light, and not the writing.

Watch it on a sofa with somebody whose company you like. The film is decent company itself, and that is about the size of it. The 15 certificate is for the language and the beach.

*Fi1m score 56, published 10 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews split down the middle and then some, with more negatives than positives and a spread that runs from warm to openly dismissive. Where critics agree, it is on the leads: most find Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney watchable, and several credit their chemistry with holding the film together.

The reservations cluster around the script, which is repeatedly called contrived and short on laughs, and around a supporting cast reduced to plot machinery. The more admiring notices, at IndieWire and Vulture, take the film as a deliberate return to the unembarrassed, sex-forward studio comedy and enjoy it on those terms. The sharpest dissent concerns Sweeney herself: Consequence and Collider find her performance flat and the chemistry unconvincing, which cuts against the one thing most other critics praise. The Hollywood Reporter goes furthest, finding no chemistry and few laughs at all. Even sympathetic critics call it formulaic; the disagreement is over whether that is the point.

## Straight answers

**Is Anyone but You worth watching?**

*Anyone but You* is pleasant enough for an evening on the sofa with somebody whose company you like, and we scored it 56. Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney are good together when the script lets them be quiet, but the comedy runs on schemes rather than jokes, and an hour after it ended we could not remember a line.

**How long is Anyone but You, and what is it rated?**

*Anyone but You* runs 1h 43m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a romance and comedy film.

**Where can I watch Anyone but You in the US?**

*Anyone but You* is streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Anyone but You, and is it suitable for children?**

*Anyone but You* is not violent or frightening at all; it is a romantic comedy, and its 15 certificate is for the swearing and a beach scene in which Glen Powell loses his trousers in front of both families. Older teenagers will find nothing to alarm them, but it is not made for younger children and there is little in it to hold them.

**How does Anyone but You compare to Much Ado About Nothing?**

*Anyone but You* borrows the shape of [*Much Ado About Nothing*](https://film.one/film/much-ado-about-nothing) and drops the words, which is where the earlier film wins. Kenneth Branagh's version keeps Shakespeare's insults and the wit still lands, though its physical comedy is broader than it needs to be. Gluck's film has the stars, the sea and the light, and is the easier watch for anyone who wants sunshine without verse.

**What should I watch after Anyone but You?**

After *Anyone but You*, try [*Much Ado About Nothing*](https://film.one/film/much-ado-about-nothing) (1993, Fi1m 78): The source, done in Tuscan sunshine with the insults intact and the wit still working. Then [*The Philadelphia Story*](https://film.one/film/the-philadelphia-story) (1940, Fi1m 84): A wedding, an ex and two people who argue because they cannot stop talking; and [*The Wedding Banquet*](https://film.one/film/the-wedding-banquet) (1993, Fi1m 81): Ang Lee’s comedy of a fake couple and two families who mean well and make it worse.

### Reviews we read (17)

- **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (80/100, inferred): The review celebrates the film as an unapologetic, irony-free '90s-style rom-com with screwball energy and Shakespearean plotting that gives new life to the genre. It singles out the leads' charm and the energetic direction for praise. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/anyone-but-you-review-glen-powell-sydney-sweeney-1234937187/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Marya E. Gates (80/100, inferred): The film has the charm, wit, and star chemistry missing from recent rom-coms, with Powell and Sweeney delivering palpable chemistry in a loose Much Ado About Nothing adaptation. It subverts expectations through visual gags, emotional nuance in the finale, and strong character work. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anyone-but-you-2023)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film for reviving elements of the studio sex comedy through its self-aware handling of rom-com tropes, strong chemistry, and emphasis on the characters' horniness. They single out the hot ensemble and the leads' self-awareness for praise. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/glen-powell-and-sydney-sweeney-star-in-the-sexy-anyone-but-you.html)
- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (75/100, inferred): The formulaic rom-com is most likable for how its stars channel the age of antipathy through brash banter and insults in a Much Ado About Nothing gloss, with convincing chemistry and a zesty take on modern anti-romanticism. It remains brazenly traditional beneath the hostility. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell-1235846889/)
- **The AV Club**, Drew Gillis (B-): The film succeeds as fun, aspirational escapism thanks to strong chemistry between the leads and an attractive cast in a subtropical setting. The critic notes it is formulaic but executes the rom-com beats competently without winking. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell-1851115633)
- **The i Paper**, Matthew Turner (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film saved by the white-hot chemistry and charisma of leads Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell but hampered by a painfully contrived script that fails to generate real tension or farcical energy. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell-2825584)
- **Slant Magazine**, Derek Smith (50/100, inferred): The review notes the strong on-screen chemistry between the leads but criticizes the film for failing to build a compelling world or develop the supporting characters beyond one dimension. It singles out the thin ensemble and lack of depth for complaint. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell/)
- **Radio Times**, Kevin Harley (2/5): The critic finds the film a lacklustre modern take on Much Ado About Nothing despite its charismatic leads, Shakespearean source and scenic locations. The script's strained plotting, bawdy humour and attempts at sexiness fail to engage the leads or deliver wit. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ki8g1l/anyone-but-you/)
- **The New York Times**, Amy Nicholson (40/100, inferred): The floundering romantic comedy has rising stars, a luxurious backdrop, and lots of skin but feels more bawdy than erotic, with a plot that leans on familiar switchback pranks and insults. The director seems to have spent more time on the closing credits karaoke than the actual film. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/movies/anyone-but-you-review.html)
- **Empire**, John Nugent (35/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as a suffocatingly contrived and largely unfunny romcom that leans too heavily on glossy visuals and the leads' appeal while lacking genuine romance, wit or spark. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/anyone-but-you/)
- **The Guardian** (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a glossy but charmless and unconvincing romantic comedy that fails to deliver on the genre's core appeals despite its sleek presentation and attractive leads. The direction and performances are singled out for leaving the central couple unengaging and the material unfunny. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/21/anyone-but-you-movie-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the rom-com strained and lacking chemistry and laughs despite the leads' appeal, calling it truly much ado about nothing. They single out the pedestrian writing and bland execution for complaint. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell-1235767038/)
- **/Film**, Marshall Shaffer (6/10): The critic praises the frisky, fun rom-com energy generated by the physical chemistry and bodily comedy between leads Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. They criticize the subpar supporting cast and the way secondary characters are reduced to functional plot devices with stilted dialogue. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1476053/anyone-but-you-review/)
- **Consequence**, Clint Worthing (C-): The critic finds it a genial but thin rom-com that coasts on its attractive stars, praising Powell's comic timing while noting Sweeney's passive performance and lack of believable chemistry. [Read](https://consequence.net/2023/12/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney/)
- **Deadline**, Valerie Complex (50/100, inferred): The critic calls it a fun but forgettable middle-of-the-road rom-com that comfortably follows genre norms without breaking new ground. It is amusing enough for a casual watch but hindered by padding and length that dilutes its impact. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/12/anyone-but-you-review-forgettable-affair-in-rom-com-territory-1235678394/)
- **The Wrap** (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the overstuffed enemies-to-lovers rom-com lacks narrative tension despite its destination-wedding setting and attractive leads. It tries too hard to sell the central conflict while the reunion feels inevitable, falling short of stronger examples in the genre. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/anyone-but-you-review-sydney-sweeney-glen-powell/)
- **Collider**, Maggie Boccella (30/100, inferred): The critic calls it bad Shakespeare fanfiction, praising Powell's charm but complaining about Sweeney's flat performance and the script's failure to capture the source material's essence. [Read](https://collider.com/anyone-but-you-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Will Gluck
- **Director:** Will Gluck
- **Screenplay:** Will Gluck, Ilana Wolpert
- **Story:** Ilana Wolpert
- **Cinematography:** Danny Ruhlmann
- **Editor:** Kim Boritz-Brehm, Tia Nolan
- **Music:** Leslie Powell, Este Haim, Christopher Stracey
- **Production design:** Steven Jones-Evans
- **Costume design:** Amelia Gebler
- **Producer:** Joe Roth, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Will Gluck
- **Cast:** Sydney Sweeney as Bea; Glen Powell as Ben; Mia Artemis as Barista; Nat Buchanan as Miranda Clerk; GaTa as Pete; Alexandra Shipp as Claudia; Hadley Robinson as Halle; Dermot Mulroney as Leo
- **Runtime:** 1h 43m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 22 December 2023
- **Genres:** Romance, Comedy
- **Budget:** $25 million
- **Box office:** $215 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbjdSlTHFts

## Where to watch in the US

- Hulu: streaming, hd
- Disney+: add-on, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HR, IE, IN, IT, JP, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Much Ado About Nothing* (1993), Fi1m 78: The source, done in Tuscan sunshine with the insults intact and the wit still working. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/much-ado-about-nothing.md)
- *10 Things I Hate About You* (1999): Shakespeare moved to a modern setting by people who remembered to write the jokes.
- *The Philadelphia Story* (1940), Fi1m 84: A wedding, an ex and two people who argue because they cannot stop talking. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-philadelphia-story.md)
- *The Wedding Banquet* (1993), Fi1m 81: Ang Lee’s comedy of a fake couple and two families who mean well and make it worse. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wedding-banquet.md)
- *Set It Up* (2018): Two people scheming their way into each other’s company, with sharper lines and no harbour.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/anyone-but-you