'The Idea of You' review: Anne Hathaway's surprisingly substantial romantic comedy

WHAT IT'S ABOUT The romantic comedy “The Idea of You” stars Anne Hathaway as Solène Marchand, stepping in at the last minute to take her teenage daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) and Izzy's friends to the Coachella music festival. 

Little could Solène have imagined that amid the colorful sea of festival attendees flocking to musical acts that don't really register for this 40-year-old Los Angeles-based art gallery owner, she'd meet the love of her life.

Nor could she have possibly guessed that the person in question would be Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine, "Mary & George"), the 24-year-old, world-famous member of the boy band August Moon, or that she'd meet him by mistaking his private trailer for a public bathroom.

The movie, an adaptation of the 2017 novel by Robinne Lee, arrives via director Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick,” among other notable credits).

MY SAY A cynical viewer could find reasons to pick on “The Idea of You,” especially when it comes to that first meeting in the trailer, a helping of other genre clichés and plot details that sometimes play out like a work of fan fiction.

But to do so would be to miss the bigger and more interesting story, below the shiny surface of private jets, hotel suites and glances exchanged from just offstage at August Moon shows.

That comes in the depiction of two people who are so much more complicated than our ingrained expectations.

Hathaway's Solène runs a successful gallery in the Silver Lake neighborhood, lives in a picturesque home and seems to have it all together.

But she's emotionally traumatized, stuck with major trust issues following a terrible divorce, and deeply conflicted between her own shot at happiness and what the judgmental forces of society writ large have to say about the relationship, let alone what it could mean for her daughter.

Hayes appears to have everything: unlimited wealth, global fame, a thriving career. But in his quiet moments, he too confesses to feelings of vulnerability.

In one of the movie's best scenes, beautifully played by Galitzine, Hayes tells the story of being invited to his favorite musician's home for what he thought would be a musical collaboration but instead turned into a photo opportunity with his young daughter. What if I'm just a joke, he wonders, growing old in this boy band, never to be taken seriously?

“The Idea of You” turns around the clash between the image of a beautiful, successful couple being swept away into a whirlwind romance, and the reality of two people desperately searching for something more and better, forming a connection out of that shared yearning.

There's a sense throughout the picture of everyone from Showalter to his stars and beyond being in sync on what this movie is really, ultimately trying to say. And it winds up leaving far more of an impression than its appearance might have suggested.

BOTTOM LINE This is a substantial movie with the veneer of a frothy romantic comedy.