Movie Review The Idea of You

The Idea of You (2024) 

Directed by Michael Showalter

Written by Michael Showalter, Jennifer Westfeldt 

Starring Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine 

Release Date May 2nd, 2024 

Published May 7th, 2024 

With this many talented people involved, I am shocked at how boring and basic The Idea of You turned out. Michael Showalter has proven to be an adept and quirky filmmaker. His previous films have an adventurous yet warm romantic humor. Jennifer Westfeldt, returning to screenwriting for the first time since her breakout screenplay Kissing Jessica Stein, also promises something warm, funny and quirky. So how did we arrive at this product placement laden, highly predictable and endlessly dull, dud of a rom-com. And how did they manage to fumble the radiant talent of Anne Hathaway? 

The Idea of You, a desperately forgettable title, stars Anne Hathaway as Solene, a 40 year old divorced mom. She's an artist and she runs a successful art gallery. As we meet Solene, she's bundling her teenage daughter, Izzy (Ella Rubin), and her two best friends, off to Coachella with Izzy's uber-rich daddy who has sprung for a big backstage package, one that will allow her to meet her favorite boy band. Well, they used to be her favorite boy band but she doesn't listen to them anymore. The boy band, known as August Moon, is headed up by Hayes Campbell, the Harry Styles of the group, played by Nicholas Galitzine. 

Circumstances conspire to have Solene have to take the kids to Coachella where she will end up backstage. In a comic misunderstanding, Solene ends up in Hayes Campbell's trailer, thinking it's the backstage restroom. Hayes is immediately smitten with Solene but she doesn't see it. After a brief exchange about art and her art gallery, they part ways. Later, Hayes shows up at Solene's gallery and buys all of the art as a ruse to spend time with Solene. She goes for this, after initially questioning his dedication to art, and the two end up back at her house sharing a moment over her piano. 

Once Solene's daughter is sent off to a summer camp of some sort, Solene takes up Hayes' offer to fly to New York to hook up and for a time, the pair enjoy hooking up. Naturally, we have roadblocks set up in Solene and Hayes' age gap, 16 years I think it is, and in the reaction of Solene's daughter to her mom dating her former favorite boy band guy, but the biggest obstacle is the predictable nature of romantic comedy structure. The typical beats of a rom-com are inescapable at this point, intractable. The only way to work around the genre strictures is to elevate the familiar with great performance and undeniable chemistry. 

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community Vocal. 

Movie Review Kissing Jessica Stein

Kissing Jessica Stein (2002)

Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld

Written by Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Westfeldt

Starring Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Westfeldt, Scott Cohen, Jackie Hoffman, Tovah Feldshuh, Michael Ealy, Jon Hamm 

Release Date March 13th, 2002 

Published September 18th, 2002 

When it comes lesbian relationships in film, we generally get distracted by the sex stuff and the relationship aspect gets lost. That is not the problem with the comedy Kissing Jessica Stein. In fact you would be hard pressed to find many problems in this wonderful comic romance. Written by and starring Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt, and adapted from their stage play, Lipschtick, Kissing Jessica Stein is the non PC story of two straight women who begin a tentative lesbian romance. 

Helen (Juergensen) is an art gallery owner who has dabbled in bisexuality but is first glimpsed cheating on a jerk boyfriend in the middle of a gallery show. Helen is tiring of the meaningless sex and is exhausted of men so she places a personal ad seeking a woman. Helen's ad catches the eye of a copy editor named Jessica (Westfeldt) almost by accident. As Jessica and some friends are glancing over the personals they come across an ad in which there is a quote from Jessica's favorite poet. While Jessica's friends dismiss the ad after finding it's a women, Jessica finds herself strangely intrigued. In a move that totally goes against her conservative nature, Jessica answers the ad.

Helen and Jessica hit it off and thus begins a series of funny, sweet moments of a budding relationship. The film is well written and well acted. It's no surprise that Juergenson and Westfeldt, who have been doing this material for a long time, have chemistry unmatched by many straight romantic comedy couplings.

The supporting cast is as strong as the two leads, especially veteran actress Tovah Feldshuh as Jessica's mother. The role could have been a sitcom knockoff of a stereotypical overbearing Jewish mother. Instead, Feldshuh brings a wonderful calmness and ease to her performance and has one extraordinary scene with Westfeldt as she finally opens up about the new relationship that is funny, smart and touching.

Kissing Jessica Stein never gets overly caught up in the sexuality of Helen and Jessica's relationship, at least not in the sleazy B-movie way most lesbian relations are treated. Sex is an issue in their relationship but it isn't the only issue. While the ending left me cold, I still really liked Kissing Jessica Stein, one of the best comedies of the year.