Nostalgic for the rom-com boom of the ’90s and 2000s? Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are on their way. The pair star in the upcoming film Anyone But You, a steamy genre piece that marries the fake dating trope and the classic enemies-to-lovers storyline. Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends With Benefits) directed the film from a script co-written by himself and Ilana Wolpert, loosely based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. In the Lifetime-movie-tinged trailer, Powell plays Sweeney’s one-time ex. They linked up during a break from her longtime boyfriend (Never Have I Ever’s Darren Barnet) and appeared to have broken up because. of Powell’s “small-dick insecurity,†a description he refutes. Our two leads are forced together once again for Sweeney’s sister’s wedding and decide to fake-date because her parents are meddling in her love life. It’s a win-win scenario — the arrangement would make his own ex jealous.
Anyone But You’s official press tour has the potential to be more interesting than the film itself, if their chemistry earlier this year is anything to go by. The film, out December 22, ensures that rom-coms live another day. For better or worse.