A Playful Dance of Love and Pretenses in 'Anyone But You'
In Bea and Ben’s case, the once hot chemistry they had in their initial meeting seems to die down. Two years later fate brings them together to a wedding in Australia and as acting couple misadventures unfolds both funny and romantic situations occur. Their pretense puts them face to face with the mistakes of the past and makes them realize they might have a second shot at love. There is a good and natural humor in the film though it does not make it seem like a subscription to People’s emotional magazine. Their relationship is very believable, which helps to make their love-hate relationship erotic. Every character is forced to add life to the story and the plot: Spark.
In a comedy romantic movie, Will Gluck fully embraces the whole directorial seat with panache, timing and the romantic clutter. He combines comedy and realistic feelings here and most of the audiences will be able to follow the characters’ transformations.
The choice of music enhances the movie’s mood, brightening the cheerful songs with emotional and touching scenes. It provides a broad snapshot of each scene and enhances the romanticcomedy nature of the story.
Filmed in the beautiful AU, good cinematography offers fine light & colors together with lovely Australian sceneries in tune with the film’s romance. Such environment contributes significantly to the overall positive nature and romantic aura of the story.
The environment is beautiful as it reflects the Australian setting of the film in appreciable detail. Costume and set design increase the film’s value for visuals and plunges the audience into the atmosphere of the film.
Compared to the extravagant special effects, they are employed sparingly to complement one or two scenes of the comedy scenes. The film cannot be said to be visually overloaded; there are no fantastic effects and dazzling prospects here; the episodes build upon the story and the characters.
The editing is also perfect here as it contributes highly to the continuous and harmonic flow of the film. There are no abrupt changes between funny moments and the rather dramatic ones; the audience will never lose interest. It keeps the audience engaged without losing the sense of urgency, thus, enables to develop characters’ personalities and their relations organically, The style of the script is mostly filled with the active use of the jokes that still have emotional depth. It tosses humor with sincerity, and brings something positive to the film and its story.
Thus, ‘Anyone But You’ is charming, though there are some moments more predictable in the plot. It is likely to disappoint clients expecting pronounced originality in narration because ‘Anyone But You’ relies on clichés inherent in romantic comedies too often but its performance is rather engaging and sentimental. It brings the feeling of renewed and sustained love which is something people go gaga about even when there are jokes involved.
