Anyone But You - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Anyone But You



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I’m going to say this, and I don’t feel bad about it being a guy. I really like Rom Coms. They may not be the highest level of cinema out there, and tend to lean more towards the female demographic, but I still find them a staple of the cinematic world. Albeit more along the lines of junk food rather than Wagyu beef. And while blockbusters and tentpole action/sci-fi (or westerns if we were before the 80s) films have always been the big budget/big earners, the trusty old Rom Com was there with a low budget but high reward payout for the studios while they waited for the next big tentpole film to come out. But over the years, the studios have put out fewer and fewer comedies, and even fewer Rom Coms than most of us were accustomed to ever since just before the Covid days. And frankly, I’m happy to see them come back. Just….hopefully a bit better than this.

Starring the hot, heartthrobs of the 2020’s, Anyone But You had the potential for being really fun, but sadly squandered most of that potential by the end of the film. Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) are two single people who happen to hook up after a chance meeting at a coffee shop where Ben gets to come in and be the knight in shining armor. The two instantly hit it off, spending the rest of the afternoon together and falling asleep at his place. BUT, and there’s always a but, a miscommunication throws everything into a tailspin. Bea happens to wake up earlier than Ben, and decides to go out and grab them a cup of coffee, only for Ben to wake up and think she just ran out on him. AND of course Bea happens to walk back into frame just as Ben snaps to his friend that she’s a “nothing”. Which kind of puts a kibosh on their budding romance.

But the world has a funny sense of humor, and both Ben and Bea get pushed together once more when Bea’s sister happens to be getting married to Ben’s best friend’s sister (say that three times fast) and the two have to hoof it out to Australia for the wedding. But in true Rom Com fashion, the two can’t talk like civil adults and fix things on their own. Nor can they stay out of each other’s way. Which means the two are smack-talking each other like crazy, and driving the brides and the bride’s families crazy. And Bea and Ben BOTH find their exes attending the wedding as well. So, to make their exes jealous and to get their families to get off their backs, Ben and Bea come up with a foolproof plan. Act like they’re together as a couple, making their exes crazy and their families scratching their heads. I mean, this is a totally rational plan that will totally work. Right guys?

As you can guess, things go awry, more hijinks happen, more miscommunication happens, and the ending of the movie is your typical Rom Com happy ending, voila. The thing is, while this type of plot has been done before, it just doesn’t work that well in application. Sydney and Glenn have solid enough chemistry, but the writing really betrays the whole endeavor here as it has a hard time finding its own voice. What we have here is three different films at once crammed into one premise. The first is a hard-hitting R-rated comedy, a sugary sweet Rom Com, and a “star-crossed lovers” tragedy all at once. And this is where the film really falls apart. The R-rated comedy can work with the Rom Com trappings, but the overuse of Gen Z miscommunication and delving into serious romantic tragedy hamper the simple silliness the film COULD have been. Certain parts really work well, while others fall flat on their face.

Probably the best aspect of the film is Sydney Sweeney and Glenn Powell. Both are at the peak of their stardom right now, and they work well together. Let's face it, with Sydney we’re not exactly there for Meryl Streep-type acting, but for her very specific….ummmm... “set of skills”. And Glenn is just charming and charismatic as the cocky “hot guy”. Born from two different worlds, the two have a great sense of chemistry, both in friendship/love and hating each other. And without them, the rest of the movie would have fallen flat on its face instead of just being middle-of-the-road “that could have been better” status.




Rating:

Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, and brief graphic nudity.




4K Video: Video:

I was a bit sad that Sony had decided to give Anyone But You a Blu-ray-only release DESPITE making 10x its budget back in 2024, but it looks like they have finally used their MOD line to re-release the disc in 4K UHD. Struck from a native 4K master, Anyone But You looks genuinely striking in 2160p. The belated upgrade looks nice, with a clearer view of the ocean, stronger fine details on cloth and the Sydney landscape, and some nice black levels with the added Dolby Vision. Fine detail upgrades are minimal, but they are there, considering just how great Sony’s 2024 Blu-ray looked. Colors pop a bit more with the HDR/Dolby Vision, and there are no signs of artifacting at all. HOWEVER, the one thing that kept me from rating this higher is that the disc (as did the Blu-ray, so I’m guessing it's baked into the master) looks a little filtered and soft in places. It’s not a massive issue, but enough that I felt they could have been a BIT sharper without it.








Audio:

As is the case with pretty much every Sony release, the 2-year-old Blu-ray featured a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track (which is included on the 4K UHD disc here as well), but left the Atmos mix for the 4K disc. And as per usual, the difference isn’t that massive, as Sony really maximizes their 5.1 mixes, so the Atmos track is more of a subtle upgrade. The differences here are simply more precise discrete surround use with theobject-basedd mix, as well as some mild use of the overheads during some of the more exciting bits (such as the helicopter rescue). LFE is punchy and exuberant when needed, with the score and the dialog taking the brunt of the heavy lifting here.

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Extras:

• NEW Audio Commentary
• He Said She Said
• Everyone Down Under
• Outtakes & Bloopers
• Deleted Scenes
• Marketing Materials
• NEW Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

I really wanted to like Anyone But You considering the fact that rom-coms have been pretty sparse from the big studios lately. And with Sydney and Glenn being in the main character roles, I figured it would be a slam dunk. But sadly I was having trouble liking Ben and Bea by the end of the movie, and the film’s misfires tend to bring the flick down even more. The film hits more often than it misses, but not by a huge margin (I’d say 60/40 hits/misses). So while I had an enjoyable enough time with the film, it isn’t going to go beside Notting Hill or Serendipity by any stretch of the imagination. The 4K UHD (which is over 2 years later than the Blu-ray) is a nice upgrade with great video/audio and some extra special features; the flick itself is a rental. So while fans of the movie will be delighted with the technical upgrades, everyone else would be better off giving this a rent before blind buying.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, Dermot Mulroney
Directed by: Will Gluck
Written by: Ilana Wolpert, Will Gluck
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, French, Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 104 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 21st, 2026

Recommendation: Rental