Enemies to lovers trope? Check. Big dramatic confession scene? Check. Grossing $127.8 million? What?

Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney as Beatrice, a law student at Boston University, and Glen Powell as Ben, a typical “finance bro,” was released on December 22, 2023 as a modern romcom rendition of Shakespeare’s infamous “Much Ado About Nothing.” Overall, the movie was a huge success. It was nominated for Comedy Movie of the Year for the 2024 People’s Choice Awards and its hashtag racking up over 1.5 billion views on Tik Tok, where viewers filmed themselves leaving the theater to Natasha Beddingfield’s “Unwritten.”

The film starts with a meet-cute: Ben and Beatrice (Bea) immediately hit it off after an encounter at the coffee shop. From there, they spend the whole day together and Bea even spends the night at Ben’s loft. Unfortunately, Bea leaves the next morning without saying a word and Ben badmouths Bea to his friend, which Bea overhears. Then, the next trope happens: forced proximity. A year goes by and both parties are whisked away to Australia as Bea’s sister and Ben’s friend get married. To keep everyone off their backs, Bea and Ben navigate a fake relationship, which inevitably leads to them falling deeply in love and Ben making a grand confession of his love at the opera house.

On paper, the movie ticks all the boxes: a charming male lead, a beautiful but complicated female lead, an exotic location, and a feel-good soundtrack for the audience to sing-along to. Still, the movie doesn’t work on screen. Although it’s clear Powell and Sweeney have undeniable chemistry, there are problems with the production and plot-line of the film. The plot has little flow—rather the film jumps from one situation to another to meet the romcom requirements. As a result, the film skips over important parts where we could’ve gotten deeper insight into the main characters and their thought processes. For example, why does Bea sneak out in the first place? She was engaged for six-months before meeting Ben, which doesn’t match up with her instinctively treating her encounter with Ben as a one-night stand. With similar inconsistencies like that woven throughout, some of  the most significant conflicts in the film seem less genuine and illogical.

Similarly, events jump from six months to a whole year, omitting potential tussles that would have built up the hostile relationship. As a result, the resentment between Ben and Bea seems forced.

However, one thing this film did an exceptional job at was bringing back the cliche romcom vibes. It’s been a while since we had movies that gave off the same swooning vibes as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, so it was refreshing to see producer Will Gluck return us to that feeling. Obviously, you would never see a man get on a helicopter to chase a girl to the Sydney Opera House, but scenes like that are what make romantic comedies special.

So it may not be the best romantic comedy out there, but it is the best one that has been released in a while.