A Goofy Sydney Sweeney Rom-Com Is Edging Out Oscar-Nominated Films on Streaming
Best Picture nominees American Fiction, The Holdovers, Zone of Interest, and Poor Things are streaming on Prime, yet none of those fine films have reached the number one spot on the viewing charts. That honor, hilariously, goes to the Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell-led rom-com Anyone but You.
Prime Video is currently home to a number of impressive movies, including the 96th Academy Awards Best Picture winner Oppenheimer, but Amazon users are opting for a 103-minute romp to sunny Australia, and honestly, I don’t blame them a bit. After watching all of the Oscar-nominated movies and Anyone but You, there’s only one movie in the bunch that helped me tap into a (very welcome) low-stakes vacation mindset, and it sure as heck wasn’t Oppenheimer.
That’s not to say that all of those other movies aren’t amazing, because they definitely are! It’s just that sometimes, we all need a little silliness in our lives. With Sweeney and Powell’s “girl and boy next door” good looks, palpable chemistry, and all that glorious Australian sea and sunshine, it’s no wonder that Anyone but You is sitting pretty at the top of the charts.
Sydney Sweeney is having a moment
Fresh off of her stint hosting Saturday Night Live, Sweeney is riding a career high that’s been a long time coming. Social media, and media in general, have of course focused more on the actress’s physique than on her acting chops, which is a true injustice if you’ve watched any of her work. In HBO’s Euphoria, she has portrayed emotions ranging from melancholy to absolute fury. She made every viewer older than twenty hate her character in The White Lotus, often just with an officious glance at her mother (Connie Britton). Now, with Anyone but You, she has demonstrated a talent for physical comedy that should not go uncelebrated.
Take, for example, the scene in which Sweeney’s character, Bea, spots frenemy Ben (Powell) asleep in his first class berth on the plane to Sydney. Out of spite, and maybe a little bit of boredom, Bea decides to steal his chocolate chip cookie while he sleeps, but her sweatshirt gets caught in the process. As she straddles Ben and rhythmically pulls to free her shirt, cookie clamped between her teeth, we see the makings of rom-com royalty. This is an actress who isn’t afraid to look like a goof!
There are many more examples of Sweeney’s aptitude for physical comedy in this movie, including the scene when Bea puts her hand down Ben’s pants to prove they’re a couple in front of their family. Except, they’re in Australia, so naturally a massive spider has crawled into his shorts, causing Ben to overreact and throw all of his clothes off a cliff. Bea must then examine all of his, er … nooks and crannies … to make sure there are no more arachnids hiding out. This part of the movie is great enough, but if you stick around for the ending song montage, you’ll get an even bigger laugh. Trust me!
Also, where has Glen Powell been hiding?
Powell is a perfect romantic comedy leading man—so perfect, in fact, that I’m shocked he hasn’t acted in this capacity before. Yes, he stood out in small roles in Top Gun: Maverick and was even memorable in a brief appearance as John Glenn in Hidden Figures, but it wasn’t until he and Sweeney combusted onscreen in Anything but You that we bothered to learn his name. Now, we kind of want to see him in everything, but especially rom-coms.
Both Sweeney and Powell seem keen to monopolize on their onscreen chemistry. In an interview with PEOPLE, Sweeney said they’re hoping for a follow up to Anyone but You but are open to any scripts that feature them together. “We haven’t really solidified what we want to do yet, but we’re just dreaming up a bunch of different things and seeing what clicks best,” said the actress.
Similarly, speaking to Variety on the 2024 SAG Awards red carpet, Powell said, “When you find somebody that you really jive with, Sydney is so easy to work with and so fun. We’re definitely trying to find the next thing.”
The strong connection between its two main stars is one of the main reasons that audiences are loving Anything but You, but there’s also the obvious reason: It’s not real. Many of the Oscar contenders streaming on Prime are based on the real world and feature real-world issues and problems, but there’s absolutely nothing Earth-shattering in Anything but You. Viewers don’t have any actual fears that Bea and Ben won’t get together; it’s a rom-com, not a drama! This is the exact reason it’s important to make and distribute a wide variety of movies—so there’s something for everyone.
This frothy dose of sun, sand, and beautiful people may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. In fact, I watched it twice, just ’cause. Judging by the streaming viewer charts, I’m clearly not alone!
Anyone but You is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Releasing)
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