The Idea of You review: Harry Styles fan-fiction homage is ‘staggeringly forgettable’

Whatever the case, Styles’s dedicated global followers have had their say, and most of them agree that The Idea of You occasionally reads like steamy Styles fan fiction.

A devilishly handsome boy bander falls for a fan’s mum at a backstage meet-and-greet. He’s 24, is covered in tattoos and he has a thing for older women. He’s also British, and he longs to be taken seriously as a musician.

On the screen, in Michael Showalter’s watery adaptation of Lee’s book, there is no escaping the obvious: Nicholas Galitzine approaches Hayes Campbell, the musical charmer of the piece, like a Harry Styles impersonator. That isn’t to say it’s a bad performance. It’s just a little weird is all.

Are we fixating on the wrong thing here? Probably, but it’s a lot more interesting to talk about who or indeed what inspired The Idea of You than it is to watch this staggeringly forgettable film.

Our story kicks off at a festival. Anne Hathaway (delightful, as always) is Solene, a 40-year-old divorcee whose teenage daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) is off to Coachella for the weekend. Dad Daniel (Reid Scott) was supposed to accompany Izzy and her friends, but when a work emergency scuppers his plans, it falls to ­Solene to lead the charge.

Why, exactly, this is such a bad thing, we’re not entirely sure, but Solene isn’t one bit happy about the situation. That’ll soon change.

Daniel, it turns out, has arranged VIP passes for the gang, not to mention meet-and-greet tickets with August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. Izzy’s a fan, or she used to be, so that’s Solene’s first port of call.

One thing leads to another and, after mistaking a superstar’s backstage trailer for a public toilet, Solene winds up brushing shoulders with Hayes (Galitzine) the British heartthrob of August Moon. It’s an awkward meet-cute, but Hayes is instantly smitten and later he dedicates a song to his new favourite lady.​

The following week, Hayes shows up at Solene’s art gallery in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. This lad doesn’t mess about, and it looks as if she might like him, too.

There are, however, details that require at least some discussion. Solene is worried about the 16-year age gap. If word gets out, it won’t be Hayes that catches heat for their relationship, and Solene is all too aware of what people will say. Is there a happy ending in this story? That would be telling.

With 116 minutes on the clock, Showalter’s film takes its time – too much time, perhaps, and occasionally it comes to a standstill. It is as if it knows it has nothing of real interest to say about the knotted dynamics of Solene and Hayes’s bumpy partnership.

He gets off scot-free, she doesn’t. He gets to have all the fun, she is constantly criticised for her choices. The Idea of You repeatedly informs us of these rotten injustices, but it rarely plots a meaningful conversation around them.

Every now and then, it looks as if it might actually go somewhere fun, but then Showalter – adapting Lee’s novel alongside Jennifer Westfeldt – opts for a fluffy montage, and we’re right back where we started. It’s all set-up and no pay-off, basically.

As a romantic comedy, it sometimes nails the romance bit. Galitzine (good) and Hathaway (better) share an obvious chemistry – their electric love affair is perhaps worthier of a stronger story, one without empty-headed pop tunes and with a more confident grasp of its central concept.

The comedy side is trickier. You might imagine there are all sorts of comical accidents that could arise from a famous pop star dating a fan’s mother. If there are, then The Idea of You struggles to find them, and this stuffy, stilted feature makes the terrible mistake of taking itself seriously.

It’s too safe, too predictable, like a lightweight cross between Notting Hill (a film that hardly requires explanation) and The Rebound (a rickety May-December romance with Catherine Zeta-Jones). Oh, and somehow they roped Graham Norton into proceedings. That isn’t nearly as entertaining as it sounds.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Two stars