The Idea of You or the Type of You?
Are romantic comedies making a comeback? American comedian and actor Michael Showalter, the king of romantic comedies, produced the film The Idea of You (2024) set to be released on May 2, 2024, at 3 am on Amazon Prime Video. So Netflix can suck it. This domestic film is the first adaptation of Robinne Lee’s 2017 The Idea Of You. During IFF’s Ivy Film Festival 2024 on April 8-14, Brown students and families got a special screening of this film before it hit Amazon Prime, all while Showalter was in the theater listening to our reasonable reactions. Not only did the screening of romantic comedies with a feel for the 2000s bring nostalgia to us, but Showalter was also nostalgic when visiting us seeing as he was a Modern Culture Media Brown Alumni.
The trailer for The Idea Of You sparked controversy surrounding couples with big age gaps. Some speculated that Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde inspired the film's plot, although they aren’t the only couple to have been picked apart and pried by the media. However, this article isn’t about the age difference between Soléne and Hayes. The relationship that was least talked about was Soléne and her daughter Izzy, her favorite person. Soléne had Izzy when she was about 24 years old in her previous marriage to Dan, her strong-arming cheater of a husband. Despite their efforts as an“American dream” family, Dan had an affair that completely changed their lives. What it did, however, was turn Izzy into the parent and strengthen their mother-daughter relationship.
My mom is Soléne and I am Izzy. My mom is a single mother and under different circumstances, it is a big part of what bonds us. Having no siblings or other family to rely on, my mother is my best friend and one of my favorite people ever. It isn’t easy considering someone other than yourself when you are making decisions, especially when there are no unreasonable secrets hidden. Soléne decided to follow her heart after putting it aside and experiencing the joys of being a parent and the sting of betrayal from her ex-husband. Even when she engaged with other single males in their 40s, she never saw any of them as worthy to share her life with. We as an audience didn’t either. That choice was Hayes, but at what cost? Hopefully not “stupid, stupid” (phrase between Izzy and Soléne).
Izzy compared Soléne’s lie to her father when she found out he cheated. She felt betrayed that her mother didn’t say anything but was even more disturbed by the internet being pigs subjectively
Izzy was a normal girl in school who suddenly was at the center of the media protecting her mom’s name from the labels “cougar” and “worst mother.” fSoléne’s unawareness was because of Izzy’s strength to persevere through the photographers bombarding her with questions at her front door. Was it a risk worth taking? To make the undeniable costly decision between the love of your life and the one you made your life what it is? This film could easily be compared to rom-coms such as Definitely, Maybe (2008), First Daughter (2004), and Mother’s Day (2016), but Lee and Showalter’s vision made this film stand out more, appealing to Generation Z and Millennials.
After the screening, we got the privilege of asking Showalter questions about his production choices, casting choices, and overall vision for this adaptation. Based on his past productions, from The Wet Hot American series to comedy stand-ups, romantic comedies were his weakness. He is always looking for those stories. Romantic comedy can be an important movie in its own way. “They can be fluffy but I like layering, lessons about love, loss, career, friendship, coming of age. Doesn't have to be heavy to be meaningful” says Showalter. He addressed the hateful preconceived notions of romantic comedies that question their significance by claiming that his version of a romantic comedy always has to make a statement.
The statement he made in this film was the patience of love and how true the statement “right person, wrong time” can actually be beautiful. Not to romanticize the long game, Soléne learned to let go of the first thing she opened up to after being closed off for so long, scared to hope for the possibility to rekindle their love 5 years later. Love, being intangible, is very much tangible to the readers in how this film captures the delayed gratification of sacrifice. The film showcases the hardships of a mother prioritizing her daughter and later accepting the same person who awoke her womanhood. She proved she could have both, she just needed a little bit of time and the will to let her daughter go to be who she wanted to become.