She’s a forty-year-old single mom. He’s a 24-year-old boy band international superstar. What could go wrong? I mean, we all know boys mature faster than women, right? Especially celebrity boys. So what if he has an Oedipal complex, huh? How was Oedipus ever hurt by that?
You know, if you take out the creepy and the ill manners and the obvious nods to Notting Hill, the May-September romance in The Idea of You ain’t half bad. But you can’t really take out all that stuff, can you?
Solène – oh, we have an accent, do we? Only in her name, apparently- is a single mom divorcee in El Lay. Her daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) loves the boy band August Moon. Solène plans to spend her 40th birthday camping alone, which is never a good idea, even if you’re not turning 40. Heck, camping is never a good idea, even with friends and a full-time park ranger at your disposal. Luckily for everybody involved, especially Solène, she is spared this particular awful when dad turns out to be a Grade A flake. Solène has to take her teen and their friends to the music festival where they all have backstage passes to meet August Moon. How exciting, no?
FF to the meet-cute: Solène (Anne Hathaway) mistakes a star’s trailer for the public bathroom. Turns out, she’s barged in on Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine), the Harry Styles of this particular story. She doesn’t apologize. He’s immediately smitten. Maybe his mom barges in on his personal space, too.
At the concert, Hayes dedicates a song to Solène … and it ain’t about food or drugs or his pet cat, knowhatI’msayin’? Next thing, Hayes shows up at Solène’s gallery and buys everything. Well, you might just feel you owe him a date at this point. The thing is Solène does like Hayes and loves the attention … who wouldn’t? However, she’s uncomfortable about their ages and how this pairing will look to her daughter. This is more nuanced celebrity-cougar relationship than A Family Affair, but the same taboos remain.
The Idea of You focuses much more on her than him. The film sees how difficult her juggling act is. She knows she not young; she knows she hasn’t the same kind of body as the pre-motherhood 
groupies who show up poolside at the August Moon mansion. She knows how this relationship looks to other people. The question is: Does any of that matter? Well, yes, it does. That’s the point of the film.
I liked the uncomfortable embarrassment Solène shows comparing herself to the other women preferred by the other band members. I also appreciate the film showing us how much more difficult this relationship is for her. He’s a celebrity; yes, they’ll talk about him in the tabloids, and then forgive him because he’s a celebrity. It’s a balancing act: “We like you for this; we hate you for that.” But in the world of Solène, she now makes the tabloids only in a negative way. She’s not saved by her celebrity because she has none. On that path, all you get is ill-wishers.
Contrasting the stuff I liked is a heap of stuff I didn’t, starting with the same Marc Chagall move that Julia Roberts pulls in Notting Hill and ending with the unnecessarily angry conflict scene. People in romances shouldn’t yell at each other. I can get yelling at each other from a lot of non-romances. And if you know the relationship probably shouldn’t have been indulged in the first place, then the film should end on the spot; don’t pretend this is salvageable. Look, people, you keep making this same film. It doesn’t get better than Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. No, it doesn’t. Do yourself a favor and watch Notting Hill instead.
There was once a divorcee named Solène
Whose fortunes could not be foreseen
She stumbled on a fling
With a young tabloid king
How will she explain it to her teen?
Rated R, 115 Minutes
Director: Michael Showalter
Writer: Robinne Lee, Michael Showalter, Jennifer Westfeldt
Genre: Notting Hill-ish
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Cougars?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Their daughters?
