Sydney Sweeney is the upcoming rising star of Hollywood. Despite being in a critically panned film like Sony’s Madame Webb, the actress’ popularity seems to have hardly diminished for fans and is still as crazy about the Euphoria star. One might think that her romantic comedy with Glen Powell has been successful thanks to her as the lead actress.
Anyone But You did turn out to be a sleeper hit despite the mixed reactions and criticism of it being an absolute cringe-fest. And the director, Will Gluck, instead blames the Bard of Avon aka William Shakespeare for all the cringe elements in the Sweeney-starrer movie.
Will Gluck Blames Shakespeare For Sydney Sweeney Flick Being Cringe
Read all the audience reviews on Google or all those critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the one thing common among them is the many iterations of the word cringe. While some called it lacking the chemistry seen between the co-stars in the PR events, others mentioned it was neither funny nor silly. Yet the Sydney Sweeney movie has turned out to be a hit grossing over $214 million against a budget of $25 million (via The Numbers).
While some still rave about the cringe-fest the movie is, director Will Gluck blames it all on William Shakespeare, the writer of Much Ado About Nothing, on which the movie is loosely based. In an interview with LetterBoxd, Gluck remarked,
“It’s funny because even my favorite of all the Letterboxd reviews say, ‘Oh, there’re so many cringe scenes.’ I say, ‘Well, which ones are cringe?’ ‘Oh, the goofy part when the dad and the brother over-act loudly.’ And then I just have to say, ‘That is directly from William Shakespeare.’ All the cringe scenes in this movie are taken directly from William Shakespeare. The tropes that all the romantic comedies have now, he started it back in sixteen-whatever. That’s where they began. So, yes, you’ve seen it millions of times, but this was honoring the goofiness of that.”
While some fans blasted him on the internet for blaming the celebrated English playwright, others remarked they were only there to see Sydney Sweeney (via X).
Will Gluck Believes Shakespeare’s Play Was Way More Goofy
While one would consider William Shakespeare’s works to be the epitome of romance and love, Will Gluck the writer-director of Anyone But You believes that its inspiration Much Ado About Nothing was way more goofy and in fact, cringe.
While talking to LetterBoxd about the nature of the movie and the many reviews it received calling it cringe, Gluck remarked,
“I also truly believe that, for some reason, when we watch movies, we expect the characters to be the smartest people in the world, [as if] it’s the first time they’ve ever been through this, the first time a guy’s ever liked a girl in the world and never does anything goofy and silly. And yet in the real world, every interaction I have, you have, is ‘I just cannot believe you’ve done that. It’s so goofy, it’s so silly, I feel like such an idiot.’ So I try to walk the line between what would really happen—and it was even more goofy in Shakespeare, it was even crazier in the original play. So my conversation is more with the play, I’d say.”
While the many fans of the English and literary legend would disagree, there is no denying that ultimately, Sydney Sweeney’s romantic comedy flick has been a hit.
Anyone But You can be rented or bought on Amazon Prime.
