Netflix adds rom-com so sizzling it sparked romance rumours between co-stars

A ‘delightful’ rom-com that was slated by critics but dominated at the box office is now available to watch on Netflix.

Hitting screens in 2023, Anyone but You starred Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney and Top Gun: Mavericks Glen Powell.

Based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the movie centred on Bea (Sydney) and Ben (Glen), who first cross paths at a coffee shop in Boston.

They hit it off and go on a date that turns off to be disastrous, so are shocked when months later have to attend a destination wedding in Australia together.

The pair hatch a plan and decide to help each other out – to make his ex jealous and encourage her parents to stop pushing her to get back with hers.

Cue an entanglement and sparks subsequently start to fly despite their best efforts to avoid them.

Although some fans said this was ‘one of the best rom-coms they’d seen in a long time’ and the chemistry was ‘sizzling’, critics were less adoring.

‘Neither screen chemistry nor laughs can be manufactured, especially not with the kind of pedestrian writing in Will Gluck’s Anyone but You, which does nothing to reanimate the moribund studio rom-com,’ The Hollywood Reporter wrote in its review.

‘The obvious chemistry and charm of Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell counts for a lot, yet not quite enough, in a romantic comedy severely lacking in both romance and comedy,’ Empire Magazine shared.

‘Whatever sparkling chemistry we thought we saw in the film’s immaculate PR drip-feed, it’s barely there in the final product,’ The Sydney Morning Herald added.

Despite this, Anyone but You grossed $220.3million (£163million) worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Shakespeare film adaptation.

The script was written by High School Musical: The Musical: The Series screenwriter Ilana Wolpert.

‘Ilana took such a cool, modern twist on Shakespeare, I felt like I was reading an early 2000s rom-com,’ Sydney previously told The New York Times.

‘I loved wanting to be kissed in the rain, wanting to fall in love once I finished reading the script, wanting to cry, laugh, feeling all the feels.’

This weekend it was also added to Netflix in the UK, where fans can tune in again or new viewers can give their own verdict of the film.

At the time of filming, the movie’s stars, now aged 36 and 28, sparked romance rumours despite being in relationships at the time.

Glen has been with model girlfriend Gigi Paris since 2021, while Sydney was reportedly engaged to 37-year-old restaurateur, Jonathan Davino.

Cosy images of them on set send fans wild, with the pair then attending Glen’s sister’s wedding earlier this year, which came after reports they’d both split from their respective partners.

However soon after his mum insisted there was nothing romantic between them at all.

‘They’re definitely not together. It was just, like, she was there [at the wedding] with her friend,’ Cyndy Powell told the Daily Mail.

She branded the claims ‘silly’, vowing that Sydney was ‘really close friends’ with the whole family – especially bride Leslie – and clarified there was ‘nothing going on behind closed doors’.

‘He’s the kindest person and he is so others-oriented. He loves his family, he loves his friends. And Sydney is a friend. They’ve been friends for so long. They’ve known each other for so long and they’ve both been single and together and with other people.

‘They could have made anything happen that they wanted to at any point. But he’s got so many friends that care about him and he cares about, and he’s got a really nice group of friends that they kind of take care of each other. It’s really nice.’

Anyone but You is streaming on Netflix.

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