The anticipation for The Idea of You somehow got hyped because the book about a 20-something pop artist falling in love with a 40-something woman was too much like Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde‘s romance to ignore. There’s a little disappointment in the air.

The film starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine flew through theaters and practically went straight to the Amazon platform, which makes sense within the short windows that MGM has established as a rule. A cute and predictable film, which is a bit of a silly pastime when everything you think is going to happen happens, without there actually being any tension that makes you yearn for the conclusion.

Nicholas is Hayes Campbell, who falls in love with Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) when the two meet somewhat accidentally at Coachella. Solène was accompanying her teenage daughter, a fan of the band where he is the lead singer and the attraction between them is immediate and undeniable.

Solène is a woman who is recovering from a traumatic and recent divorce, so she hesitates about having a romance with the pop star who could be her son, but soon her arguments to avoid romance are overcome by his insistence and the weeks that pass. Traveling the world together is magical until the ageism of his friends and exposure through fame get in the way of the relationship.

The couple’s comings and goings don’t move us, even with the chemistry between them. We know Solène and her motivations, but Hayes starts and ends a little gray, even if he is innocent in his kindness and sympathy. Things that don’t help The Idea of You. There are so many films that explore the problems of age differences, some social and many others about the challenge of celebrities finding happiness with “ordinary people”, that even though it is an adaptation of the best seller of the same name, does not engage. Not even the trail is “saved”.

If you have hours to kill and have fewer expectations, then it’s worth checking it out. Or if you are a fan of one of the two stars. By the end of the film, we are left wondering when Solène will learn to have a more open conversation and not stop fighting for what she wants. Not only would it make it easier to resolve all conflicts, it would free us to seek something better. Does she really have it?