As a concept, movies like “The Idea of You” may be a rom-com, but it surpasses the need to filter down adult realities for a tear-jerking feel-good experience. Anne Hathaway plays a 40-year-old divorced mother to a 16-year-old teenager who accidentally ends up in the washroom of a boy band member at his trailer in Coachella (how crazy is that!). Nicholas Galitzine is British, handsome, and radiates with the charming energy of a 20-year-old who has lost his heart to Hathaway at their first meeting and casually uses up his wealth, as if it were monopoly money, to get closer to Hathaway’s Sloane. It works out for them until the media blinds them with flashes of reality. Is it feasible for a 40-year-old woman to date a 24-year-old celebrity? We are left pondering even as the curtains close.
What makes “The Idea of You” a rom-com fit for this technologically brazen moment in the 21st century is its refusal to keep paparazzi cameras and Page 3 gossip shut behind closed doors. It threatens to make the personal public an idea that is rooted in our social media-dominated lives. For this and for the number of hot, sloppy kisses that Hathaway shares with Galitzine, putting their chemistry on fire, you should watch “The Idea of You” (2024), now released on Amazon Prime Video. If you have already watched it and are in the mood for similar films that let their protagonists re-construct their ideas of romance around technology, ageist hypocritical thinking, and their faith in love itself, here are 5 films like “The Idea of You” that we are sure will make this weekend come alive for you:
5. How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan and adapted from Terry McMillan’s novel of the same name, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998) follows a 40-year-old Stella (played by Angela Bassett) on her first-class Jamaican vacation where she meets Winston Shakespeare (played by Taye Diggs), a chef’s assistant and 20 years her junior. Their romance blossoms in Jamaica, and they constantly fly to and fro between New York, California, and Jamaica while juggling their family’s opinions, Stella’s 11-year-old son, Quincy, and her dying friend, Delilah, and their own personal differences. But all’s well that ends well!
Like “The Idea of You,” this film too broaches conversations about how society perceives the relationship between a young guy and an older woman. The aspect of shame that comes from being seen dating a younger guy leads to the central tension between the protagonists in both films. While both these movies are romances, they don’t seem to wear rose-tinted glasses about the challenges stemming from their nature of love and ultimately make their protagonists choose companionship over people’s perception of their relationship.
4. Upgraded (2024)
Directed by Carlson Young, “Upgraded” (2024) features an ambitious, well-informed art gallery intern, Ana (played by Camila Mendes), who happens to meet William (played by Archie Renaux) on her upgraded flight to London from New York. The two accidentally bump into each other at the airport lounge and soon hit it off, following a light banter while sharing the same cabin space. Ana, however, hides her real identity and tries to pass off as her boss, Claire, while her closeness towards William and her family grows until the truth is out for the world to read in the newspaper. However, Ana and William sport a charming romance till the very end.
Like “The Idea of You,” “Upgraded” (2024) shows us how to craft a good, modern-day rom-com and tease a sensual attraction between its leads. They are both realistic in never giving the audience a chance to sympathize with their protagonists’ faults, making them realize instead that a LOT of things go into making modern-day romances successful, including the involvement of the press. It is also striking that both our female protagonists – Ana and Sloanne – are art history majors who work for (and own) art galleries, while our male protagonists are British and sport a filthy rich amount of money while maintaining their humility. The inclusion of “Upgraded” in this list also has to do with the stoic resemblance in the location where both films choose to end their narration – in an art gallery.
3. Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)
Written, directed, and produced by Cooper Raiff, “Cha Cha Real Smooth” (2022) is not interested in a potential romance as much as it is in showing us how romantic the notion of chance encounters in life can be. Andrew (played by Cooper Raiff) is a 22-year-old who wants to earn enough money to be able to go to Barcelona. He meets Domino (played by Dakota Johnson), a single mom, and her teenage autistic daughter, Lola (played by Vanessa Burghardt), during a bat mitzvah he attends with his younger brother, David.
Andrew is surprisingly good with Lola as her pal and immediately develops a connection with Domino. Andrew and Domino share many real conversations – one of the best parts of the film – and this makes Andrew’s eventual rejection of her rooted in the reality of life. In the process, however, a heart-on-sleeves, good-natured human being, Andrew, learns a little about life and his purpose.
Like “The Idea of You,” “Cha Cha Real Smooth” (2022) is unafraid of shoving aside the sentimentality for what we know as life. The protagonists share quite a bit of similarities here. Both Sloanne and Domino are divorced, single mothers with teenage daughters, while Hayes and Andrew are both in their 20s, a little lost for purpose, and very, very infatuated with their respective female leads right from their respective first (un)eventful encounter. “Cha Cha Real Smooth” is a warm, comfy hug if you are in need of one right now!
2. Marry Me (2022)
Directed by Kat Coiro, “Marry Me” (2022) is adapted from a 2012 graphic novel by the same name written by Bobby Crosby. It introduces us to the glitzy, messy lives of Kat Vadez (played by Jennifer Lopez), a popular singer with three failed marriages in her purse, who impulsively picks out her groom during one of her concert performances, a man standing with a ‘Marry Me’ poster belonging to his friend. The guy is a divorced math teacher, Charlie Gilbert (played by Owen Wilson). They agree to be married to each other for a few months, but their closeness grows, as does Gilbert’s discomfort with the media attention and the constant comparison with Kat’s ex, Bastian, whose act of resurfacing in Kat’s life eventually breaks and builds the protagonists’ real relationship.
Like Sloanne from “The Idea of You,” the perception of the public and its toll-taking effects on a commoner are very real for Gilbert as well. Both Sloane and Gilbert are faced with almost the same situation in life – a divorce, single parenthood, and the loneliness that stems from the lack of company. Their partners are global superstars, the apple of the paparazzi’s eye, and affluent; their lives are personal jet-fueled. However, like “The Idea of You,” “Marry Me” – far lighter on the heart than our film in discussion – also allows its audience to find faith in a romance that goes beyond the age-money-media factors; it searches for comfort in companionship.
1. I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
Written and directed by Amy Heckerling, “I Could Never Be Your Woman” (2007) may be from the early 2000s, but it is pretty modern in its interpretation of romance between an older woman and a man in his late 20s. Rosie (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) is a 45-year-old divorced, single mother to a teenage daughter, Izzie (played by Saoirse Ronan), and a scriptwriter and producer for a TV show. She casts a fresh talent, Adam (played by Paul Rudd), in a nerdy new character on her show, and it proves to be an instant hit. Meanwhile, Rosie is smitten with Paul and grows closer to him, going clubbing together and entering into a relationship with him. However, insecurities about her age stir her heart and head in the wrong direction until she unites with Paul in the end.
One of the bigger similarities between “The Idea of You” and “I Could Never Be Your Woman” is the depiction of the kind of mental toll and stereotypical societal thinking that keeps the female protagonists – both Sloanne and Rosie – from accepting their aging bodies and the love they actually deserve. Both Slonne and Rosie go through episodes during the film where they feel the need to cover up their skin with oversized clothes and makeup, respectively, and flinch in jealousy at the idea of their partner with younger women.
Besides, in both the movies, the mother-daughter bond is strong and reciprocatory while the liking that the teenagers develop with their mothers’ new partners is also quite similar (via gaming). If you are in the mood for a hale and hearty rom-com, “I Could Never Be Your Woman” could pass off as the perfect double-bill to “The Idea of You.”
