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I’ve been a long-time defender of the movie character Nathan Rabin unforgettably described as the “manic pixie dream girl” (MPDG), the slightly outrageous yet endearing and adorable character whose role in a film is to give the repressed/clueless/awkward/shy male character a bracing lesson about getting the most out of life. Once in a while, the story is about an MPDG who learns that sometimes you have to be a grown-up.

It is just one version of the many films where a quieter, follow-the-rules character is paired with a more impulsive follow-the-emotions character because it is one way to present one of the core internal conflicts humans face. So, whether it is Katharine Hepburn ’s madcap heiress knocking over Cary Grant ’s dinosaur skeleton in “Bringing Up Baby” or Audrey Hepburn learning that she can’t live on parties and powder room money from George Peppard in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” these stories can be reliable, entertaining, and heartwarming reflections of our own struggles between self-consciousness and courage, conformity and independence, ego and superego. 

The spirited girl who brings life force to an uncertain male is such a popular genre that there is a whole sub-category of MPDGs who are dying, including Sandy Dennis and Charlize Theron in two versions of “ Sweet November ,” Mia Wasikowska in “ Restless ,” and Olivia Cooke in “ Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ,” all of which, despite their shortcomings, are far better than the superficial, dull “Then Came You.”

The young man in need of a wake-up is Calvin ( Asa Butterfield ), a shy, sad young college drop-out working as a luggage handler. He is so obsessed with death that he keeps a journal of his possible symptoms and attends a cancer patient support group even though he is not sick. That is where he meets free spirit and dying MPDG Skye ( Maisie Williams ), who enlists him to help her fulfill her final wishes, which she has dubbed her To Die List, because “bucket list” is not cute enough.   

Skye has the kind of fatal disease we see only in the movies, looking completely healthy (except for her cute wigs) and filled with energy for all kinds of cutesy shenanigans and quippy comebacks until the storyline calls for her to ramp up the stakes. 

And so, until Skye must collapse at a dramatic moment, she has to get Calvin to help her with her list of supposed-to-be-adorable rule-breakers like shoplifting and vandalism and a few things healthy people have time to wait for, like having sex with the guy she had a crush on before she got sick. This provides an opportunity for a montage with Skye and Calvin performing Shakespeare in a park, fencing, spray-painting a building, wearing funny outfits at a sidewalk stand selling fried chicken and tacos, and behind the wheel of a fire truck, none of which is close to being as charming as it intends. One of the items on her list is “help a sad case,” so she pushes Calvin to come clean about not having cancer and ask out Izzy ( Nina Dobrev ), the flight attendant he has a crush on from afar. Just to make sure we have not had enough reminders about how Calvin is wasting his chance at life while a dying MPDG (her name is SKY, get it?) is filling the time she has left with adventure, Calvin works at the airport but has never been on a plane.

It is a shame that this movie about life is itself lifeless for so much of its running time. Its brightest moments feature Ken Jeong as a sympathetic cop, reminding us of how a gifted actor can create a vivid and appealing character in a few brief scenes. And Dobrev makes Izzy a warm, thoughtful, real person out of a character created to give Calvin someone to aspire to. While Williams is stuck with a character who has all of the depth of the beam of light that portrayed the theatrical version of the original MPDG, Tinkerbell, Dobrev, in one wordless scene, exquisitely conveys a range of thoughts and emotions. That moment is like an entire movie in itself, with more authenticity and heart than the one we just saw.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Then Came You (2019)

Asa Butterfield as Calvin

Maisie Williams as Skye

Nina Dobrev as Izzy

Tyler Hoechlin as Frank

David Koechner as Bob

Ken Jeong as Officer Al

Peyton List as Ashley

Sonya Walger as Claire

Tituss Burgess as Julian

Margot Bingham as Lucy

• Peter Hutchings
• Brice Dal Farra
• Claude Dal Farra
• Fergal Rock

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‘then came you’: film review.

Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams and Nina Dobrev star in 'Then Came You,' Peter Hutchings' comedy-drama about the friendship between a hypochondriac and a terminally ill teenager.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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Dying has never seemed so adorable as it’s depicted in Peter Hutchings’ comedy-drama about the friendship between a terminally ill manic pixie dream girl and an emotionally stunted hypochondriac. Although it features strong performances and some affecting moments, Then Came You suffers from the sort of cutesiness endemic to so many teen-oriented films, not to mention an over-reliance on montages accompanied by a pop music soundtrack that helpfully reminds you exactly what you’re supposed to be feeling at any given moment.

The central characters are Skye ( Maisie Williams , Game of Thrones ), whose spunky iconoclasm is instantly signaled through such gestures as keeping a goldfish in her IV bag, and Calvin ( Asa Butterfield , The Space Between Us ), a sensitive young man who works as an airport baggage handler alongside his father ( David Koechner ) and older brother ( Tyler Hoechlin ). When we first see Skye, she’s receiving the dire news about her condition from her doctor. Her reaction is to blithely turn to her shattered parents and point out, “You win some, you lose some.”

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Release date: Feb 01, 2019

Skye and Calvin meet cute at a support group for cancer sufferers. Skye has every right to be there, since she’s actually suffering from the disease, while the neurotic Calvin is there on the advice of his frustrated doctor, who wants his healthy patient to get some perspective on what it’s actually like to be dying.

Fergal Rock’s screenplay veers in a somewhat unexpected direction in that the story doesn’t concern a burgeoning romance between Skye and Calvin, but rather her efforts to help him in his fumbling attempts to ask out Izzy ( Nina Dobrev , The Vampire Diaries ), a beautiful flight attendant who, as Skye points out, is way out of his league. Unfortunately, that tentative courtship, fueled by such things as Calvin’s complimentary responses to Izzy’s photography and her sympathy about his supposed serious illness, doesn’t prove particularly interesting. And since Izzy is still embittered by her previous boyfriend’s duplicitousness, it isn’t hard to see what will happen when she inevitably finds out that Calvin isn’t actually sick.

The film’s most annoying element concerns Skye’s desire to complete her bucket list before she dies, which leads to cutesy vignettes in which Calvin helps her cross off such items as “Punch someone in the face.” Two sympathetic cops ( Ken Jeong , Briana Venskus) also get in on the act, apparently willing to flout department rules by locking Skye and Calvin up in a jail cell and administering lie-detector tests to them.

There’s additional forced melodrama with a subplot involving the catatonic depression of Calvin’s mother, who has been that way for years, ever since a devastating car accident in which Calvin’s twin sister was killed. That storyline does, however, provide the opportunity for screen veteran Koechner, normally seen in comedic roles, to stretch his acting muscles with his understatedly moving portrayal of Calvin’s loving father.

It’s only thanks to the strong performances of its young leads that Then Came You , with its predictable plot machinations and trite cinematic gimmicks, manages to be as surprisingly watchable as it is. Williams makes her sprightly character appealingly vulnerable, while Butterfield, who looks like he’s auditioning for a remake of Harold and Maude , uses his huge puppy-dog eyes to fine emotive effect. They’re good enough to make you wish that they had been paired in a better movie.

Production company: BCDF Pictures Distributor: Shout! Studios Cast: Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams, Nina Dobrev, Tyler Hoechlin, David Koechner, Peyton List, Tituss Burgess, Sonya Walger, Margot Bingham, Ken Jeong, Briana Venskus Director: Peter Hutchings Screenwriter: Fergal Rock Producers: Nicolas Chartier, Brice Dal Farra, Claude Dal Farra, Brian Keady, Alissa Phillips, Derrick Tseng Director of photography: Andre Lascaris Production designer: Lisa Myers Costume designer: Jennifer Rogien Editors: Jacob Craycroft, Jason Nicholson Composer: Spencer David Hutchings Casting: Neely Eisenstein

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Then Came You

A lonely widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever. A lonely widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever. A lonely widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever.

• Adriana Trigiani
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Annabelle Wilson : How did Wally get home before we did?

Howard : Well, the dog's not drunk.

Annabelle Wilson : Oh, good point!

• Connections References Roman Holiday (1953)

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• October 2, 2020 (United States)
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Film Review: ‘Then Came You’

Asa Butterfield and Maisie Williams star in a teen indie dramedy about terminal illness that’s equal parts treacle and touching.

By Courtney Howard

Courtney Howard

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Director Peter Hutchings ’ “Then Came You” isn’t a movie for cynics. It’s for romantics — or at least teen sleepover parties. Though it has many of the qualities that made teen terminal-illness weepies “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” work, Hutchings’ dramedy eschews much of those films’ sincerity and intimacy in favor of sap and saccharine.

Withdrawn 19-year-old Calvin Lewis ( Asa Butterfield ) is fearful of most things in life — particularly because he thinks he’s dying. He’s convinced his dad (David Koechner) that he needs an expensive litany of medical testing. Despite the results turning up negative for every illness, Calvin is sure he’s sick and journals everything from his daily temperature to the size of a mole on his chest. Concerned older brother Frank (Tyler Hoechlin) has tried in vain to pull the hypochondriac out of his depressive funk, but his attempts have failed miserably. Not even Calvin’s doctor can get through to him with a prescription to attend cancer support group therapy in order to gain perspective.

All of this changes once 17-year-old Skye Aitken ( Maisie Williams ) struts into group. The beguiling Brit, decked out in an ever-changing array of punk-rock wigs and cat-eared knit caps (wardrobe shorthand for “quirky!”), is everything Calvin is not: headstrong, plucky, impulsive, and, well, actually dying. She has an aggressive tumor limiting her time left on Earth, and is determined to spend every last moment living life to the fullest, which means ditching group in favor of a better form of therapy. She enlists Calvin’s help in completing her “to die list.” It’s “a bucket-list,” she says, “but not as lame.” Tasks include formative experiences (like learning to shave a man’s face, busking, getting and losing a job), light-hearted petty crimes (like shoplifting, spray-painting, gambling), and serious requests (like losing her virginity to a cute classmate). Little by little, Skye, with all of her vibrancy and effervescence, teaches Calvin to embrace life just when she’s about to lose her own.

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Pacing is never an issue, as Hutchings and screenwriter Fergal Rock get to the heart of the matter by the crucial 20-minute mark and keep the proceedings snappy. Still, there’s a lot of insufferable setup we’re forced to endure to make it to the genuinely sweet moments within the narrative. Character ironies and eccentricities are on-the-nose and serve to annoy rather than add any sense of pathos. They shout at the audience instead of subtly adding layers: Calvin works at an airport, but has never flown; he’s got his whole life ahead of him, but is too afraid to live it; Skye sports a brave face, but really she’s just as afraid as Calvin.

If that’s not enough, the filmmakers can never quite shed the trope-riddled first impression of Williams’ character, though they admirably try. Even when the film finally settles into its rhythm and starts showing us depth buried beneath her façade, she’s still battling the specter of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl label. Skye is loud, obnoxious, and grating, making Calvin uncomfortable with her brash overfamiliarity. She shows up at the airport with a goldfish in an IV bag to emphasize that she’s kooky. Her actions are also borderline rude: She leaves Calvin in the lurch with the cops at one point, and sets up a giant misunderstanding — a formulaic “you lied to me” moment — between him and his slightly older crush, airline stewardess with big dreams Izzy (Nina Dobrev). Izzy pity-dates Calvin, thinking he has cancer, but shockingly Calvin never confronts her about it when the truth comes out.

Since the filmmakers’ hearts are clearly in the right place, it’s a shame its parts couldn’t knit together a bit more seamlessly. The narrative’s lifeblood is the sweet friendship that develops between Calvin and Skye — and the actors’ magnetic chemistry keeps that alive. Surprisingly, the filmmakers don’t overcomplicate it by giving them typical romantic feelings for each other. There’s no jealousy when Calvin dates Izzy, nor when Skye hooks up with her infatuation. There’s an equanimity to their bond that’s chaste and undeniably charming. They also help each other out versus their relationship being completely one-sided. Skye’s fully in control of the first to-do list montage, but when Calvin takes control of the second, it really grabs our hearts. Tender moments are also given air when we see Skye’s mom quietly break down right before Skye sneaks away, and when Frank comforts Calvin during an anxiety attack.

Reviewed online, Los Angeles, Jan. 29, 2019. Running time: 97 MIN.

• Production: A Shout! Studios release of a BCDF Pictures, Voltage Pictures production. Producers: Claude Dal Farra, Brian Keady, Brice Dal Farra, Alissa Phillips, Nicolas Chartier, Derrick Tseng. Executive producers: Jonathan Deckter, Irfaan Fredericks.
• Crew: Director: Peter Hutchings. Screenplay: Fergal Rock. Camera (color): Andre Lascaris. Editors: Jacob Craycroft and Jason Nicholson. Music: Spencer David Hutchings.
• With: Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams, Nina Dobrev , Tyler Hoechlin, David Koechner, Sonya Walger.

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Then Came You

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Craig Ferguson (Howard Awd) Kathie Lee Gifford (Annabelle Wilson) Ford Kiernan (Gavin Ferguson) Elizabeth Hurley (Clare Hollings) Phyllida Law (Arlene Awd) Brett James (Jax Spence) Calum Chisholm (George Awd) Katarina Demetriades (Waitress) Rosemary Dickson (Winnie Ferguson) Ruaraidh Murray (Fishmonger)

Adriana Trigiani

A lonely widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever.

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Then came you, common sense media reviewers.

Saucy senior romcom is cute; sexual humor, drinking.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

You're never too old to live your dreams. Theme of

Annabelle is an outgoing, magnetic, and confident

Lots of innuendo and jokes about innocent words th

Strong language includes: "ass," "a--hole," "bulls

Apple laptop shown with logo out. Joke about Spanx

Frequent drinking, with talk of getting drunk.

Parents need to know that Then Came You is a romantic comedy targeted at Baby Boomers that takes place in Scotland and deals with finding happiness after losing a spouse. Written by and starring Kathie Lee Gifford, it has plenty of the kind of wink-wink racy humor that those who watched her on morning TV…

Positive Messages

You're never too old to live your dreams. Theme of getting through grief and moving on after the loss of a spouse.

Positive Role Models

Annabelle is an outgoing, magnetic, and confident woman who speaks up for herself and treats others well. No notable diversity within the cast.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Lots of innuendo and jokes about innocent words that sound dirty. Kissing. A couple talks about the sex they had. Sexual jokes that involve animals. A woman is confident about her sexuality and pursues a man romantically without feeling obligated to him.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language includes: "ass," "a--hole," "bulls--t," "shut up," "stupid," "s--t," and "f--king." Middle-finger gesture.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Apple laptop shown with logo out. Joke about Spanx. A classic Triumph roadster is prominently featured.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Then Came You is a romantic comedy targeted at Baby Boomers that takes place in Scotland and deals with finding happiness after losing a spouse. Written by and starring Kathie Lee Gifford, it has plenty of the kind of wink-wink racy humor that those who watched her on morning TV might be expecting. For instance, there's a gag about a British dish called "spotted dick" and a plumbing valve known as a "petcock." That said, even though innuendos fly frequently and there's talk about having sex, the actual moment, when it happens, takes place completely off camera. Expect to see characters drinking frequently and hear occasional profanity, including "s--t" and "f--k." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (8)

Based on 8 parent reviews

Not What I Expected

Surprised by content, what's the story.

In THEN CAME YOU, an outgoing, talkative Nantucket widow named Annabelle (Kathie Lee Gifford) makes plans to travel the world with her late husband's ashes. At her first stop in Scotland, she falls for charming but closed-off innkeeper Howard ( Craig Ferguson ), whose wedding to businesswoman Clare ( Elizabeth Hurley ) is only days away.

Is It Any Good?

Get these two a TV show: The former morning show personality and former late night host make such an adorable, funny team on film that they leave you wanting more. Gifford wrote the screenplay for Then Came You , and it feels like Ferguson likely did quite a bit of improv. As a result, both stars glow in their roles. There's nothing new here: The film kicks off with a voiceover of the emails the two sent to each other as strangers, and when they meet, they clash like "a cat and a dog," as they say repeatedly. And of course, you know they're totally going to fall in love. While the movie follows all the usual beats of a romantic comedy, and you can never wholly accept Gifford and Ferguson as their fictional personas, it's still entertaining.

The question is, will teens be keen on a film about a sexy grandma? Gifford is constantly revealing bits of skin: crying in a sweater that's -- whoops! -- slipped off the shoulder, singing an entire song (that she wrote) in a bubble bath, and displaying her age-defying gams at every turn. It's kind of fantastic: Women of her age are rarely portrayed in this manner in mainstream media. And this tale may just work for teens because the older characters' romance is balanced with immature humor -- jokes that are funny because they seem outrageous but aren't technically over the line. Plus, Annabelle and Howard may not be the only ones who fall in love: It will be tough not to be enchanted by the gorgeous Scottish countryside -- and, whoa, that castle! "Awd's Inn," better known as Ardkinglas House in Argyll, Scotland, is definitely old and falling apart, but dang, she'll take your breath away. Maybe the film's greater message is even if we don't technically get better with age, the years don't diminish our shine.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Then Came You compares to other romantic comedies. Who's the target audience? How can you tell?

How do Annabelle and Howard rediscover love and happiness while respecting their late spouses? Is there a "right" way to move on after loss?

Does the movie glamorize drinking ? Are there realistic consequences? Why does that matter?

Gifford wrote the screenplay and the movie's songs after her husband's death. Why do you think grief, depression, and sadness often fuel creativity?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : October 2, 2020
• Cast : Kathie Lee Gifford , Craig Ferguson , Elizabeth Hurley
• Director : Adriana Trigiani
• Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors
• Studio : Vertical Entertainment
• Genre : Romance
• Character Strengths : Empathy
• Run time : 97 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sexual material and some strong language
• Last updated : June 20, 2023

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Then Came You Reviews

The film is well-intentioned on all fronts, but director Peter Hutchings never quite breaks out of a filmmaking approach that feels quite bland and pedestrian.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Jun 4, 2022

There should have been a more surprising plot.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 20, 2019

This is an alright movie... This is one film that plays out as "cancer quirky."

Full Review | Sep 18, 2019

Then Came You hits on all the right beats of the genre: fun, tragedy, and emotional catharsis.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2019

Sounds like a good plot for a movie, but Departures is unfortunately unable to deliver the elements well enough. Especially since there's such a big contrast between the emotional scenes and the goofy silly ones, making the movie felt a bit half baked.

Full Review | Mar 23, 2019

Bad accents and a bucket list of clichés, Departures never takes flight.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 7, 2019

A diverting enough piece of fluff, if you're in the mood for some sweet relationships or to get a little weepy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 28, 2019

Charming stars save cliched story; some drinking, sex.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 22, 2019

Everything difficult and rough is softened by cheeky and easy charm.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 17, 2019

A picture whose heart might be in the right place but is sabotaged by way too many clichés and too much sappiness.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Feb 17, 2019

[It] has a little of every romantic film that you've seen in the past two decades, and even though it's not quite original, it still is a good film that will give you a lump in your throat.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 11, 2019

Then Came You may be simple, and may seem rushed considering the subject matter, but it shows the progression of a great friendship amidst terrible tragedy with such heart and emotion it is hard not to fall for its charms.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 8, 2019

Agreeable performances are compromised by a contrived and predictable script in this overly quirky romantic comedy.

Full Review | Feb 2, 2019

It is a shame that this movie about life is itself lifeless for so much of its running time.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Feb 1, 2019

Though it has many of the qualities that made teen terminal-illness weepies work, Hutchings' dramedy eschews much of those films' sincerity and intimacy in favor of sap.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2019

Suffers from the sort of cutesiness endemic to so many teen-oriented films, not to mention an overreliance on montages accompanied by a pop music soundtrack that helpfully reminds you exactly what you're supposed to be feeling at any given moment.

Full Review | Jan 31, 2019

If you're looking for a film which celebrates love, Then Came You, a story of love without cost, that of true friendship, may be exactly what you're looking for.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 31, 2019

Then Came You isn't inciting insightful rhetoric you haven't heard before, nor is it enchanting enough to forget about the negatives. However, our two leads have the film bursting with such a youthful energy that it's hard to not at least enjoy the show.

Never rises above mediocrity, unwilling to put in the effort to make something special out of working parts already on view in dozens of other films.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jan 31, 2019

A lot of what makes this movie work is the performance of Maisie Williams. She brings life, vim, and vigor to what could have just been a cliche.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 29, 2019

CULTURE MIX

Where Lifestyle Cultures Blend

Review: ‘Then Came You’ (2020), starring Kathie Lee Gifford, Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley

Arts and Entertainment

Adriana Trigiani , Calum Chisholm , comedy , Craig Ferguson , Elizabeth Hurley , Ford Kiernan , Kathie Lee Gifford , movies , reviews , Then Came You

October 6, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Then Came You” (2020)

Directed by Adriana Trigiani

Culture Representation:  Taking place in Scotland, the romantic comedy “Then Came You” features an all-white cast representing the middle-class and upper-class.

Culture Clash:  An adventurous American widow who vacations at a Scottish castle inn has frequent tension-filled encounters with the cranky Scottish widower who is the inn’s homebody owner/manager.

Culture Audience:  “Then Came You” will appeal primarily to people who like predictable romantic comedies that have a lot of corny and sappy moments .

“Then Came You” is the type of formulaic romantic comedy that could have been on the Hallmark Channel, except that “Then Came You” attempts to have a somewhat raunchier tone to the story. Even though the movie has some mild cursing and some vaguely bawdy sex talk, “Then Came You” (directed by Adriana Trigiani) is still as shamelessly cloying and trite as a cheap romance novel. It’s the kind of movie where you know exactly what’s going to happen, just by looking at the movie’s poster or trailer.

Former TV talk-show host Kathie Lee Gifford wrote the screenplay for “Then Came You,” and is a co-writer (with Brett James) of the movie’s original songs. Gifford is also a star and a producer of the movie, which looks like a Gifford vanity project used as an excuse for her to break out into song in every other scene. It should come as no surprise that Gifford’s Annabelle Wilson character in the movie used to be an aspiring singer/actress, just like Gifford was in real life before she became famous as a TV personality.

Annabelle is a fairly recent widow. Years ago, she gave up her dreams to be an entertainer and instead went into business with her husband Fred in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the suburban city where she was born and lived her entire life. Annabelle and Fred, who were married for 32 years and had no children, operated a successful hardware store together. Annabelle sold the business and their marital home after Fred died.

And now, she’s going on an adventurous trip to visit 20 places around the world that are the sites of her and Fred’s favorite movies. Annabelle and Fred were avid movie watchers, and this trip is her way of honoring Fred. Annabelle chose Scotland as the first stop on her trip, because of the 1995 Oscar-winning Scottish war movie “Braveheart,” directed by and starring Mel Gibson. But Annabelle hardly does any sightseeing. It’s obvious she wants to hang out at the inn where she’s staying because she becomes infatuated with the inn’s owner.

The opening scene of “Then Came You” features Annabelle booking her stay at a 400-year-old castle-turned-inn owned by a prickly and sarcastic Scot named Howard Awd (played by Craig Ferguson), a widower who inherited the castle from his father. Howard, who’s about the same age as Annabelle, actually holds the title of lord, but he doesn’t put on pretentious and snobby airs because of this title. He’s the opposite of polished: He’s scruffy, tattooed and is often very uncouth.

How rude is he? When he and Annabelle first meet in person and he tells her that he’s a widower, he describes his late wife as “a miserable sow.” And even though he has the title of lord, Howard isn’t rich. In fact, he’s having trouble keeping the inn financially afloat.

Annabelle and Howard’s first communication with each other is by email correspondence, which is read in voiceovers, when she books her stay at the inn. Before she leaves for Scotland, she looks around at her empty house in Nantucket and says aloud: “I’ve got to make new memories, or the old ones will kill me. And I’m not ready to die yet.” These are the type of spoken lines, for better or worse, that people can expect in this hackneyed movie.

“Then Came You” hits all the same beats of dozens of other romantic comedies where two people who are opposites are very attracted to each other, but it takes them most of the story to do something about the attraction. And usually, there’s a big “obstacle” that keeps this would-be couple from being together when they first meet. In “Then Came You,” the “obstacle” is that Howard is not only engaged, but he’s also getting married just a few days after he and Annabelle meet.

Somehow, Howard doesn’t tell Annabelle this important information until days after they’ve been sort-of flirting with each other in that “I like you but I’m going to act as if I’m annoyed by you” way that would-be couples do in romantic comedies. Their banter is exactly what you would expect: They have petty disagreements because of their opposite personalities and interests (she’s an optimist who loves to travel; he’s a pessimist who’s a homebody), while they try and pretend that there’s no sexual tension between them.

Who is Howard’s fiancée? She is a haughty, self-centered social climber named Clare Hollings (played by Elizabeth Hurley), who has a complicated history with Howard. Clare and Howard dated each other when they were young, but Howard fell in love with and eventually married the woman who was Clare’s best friend and college roommate. After that, Howard and Clare weren’t really in each other’s lives for years, but they reconnected after Howard’s wife died.

Howard tells Annabelle that his marriage to Clare is going to be a marriage of convenience. Clare is marrying Howard because she wants the title of lady, while he will financially benefit from the marriage because Clare has a lot more money than Howard does, and Clare has offered to help save the inn from financial ruin. Annabelle asks Howard if he loves Clare and will be happy in this marriage, but he doesn’t really give her a straightforward answer except to say that he likes Clare enough to be married to her. Annabelle tries not to be judgmental, but it’s very obvious that she thinks the marriage will be a mistake.

Howard’s closest friend is the inn’s somewhat goofy handyman/butler Gavin Ferguson (played by Ford Kiernan), who has made it known that he doesn’t like Clare. Howard has a 29-year-old son named George (played by Calum Chisholm), who also disapproves of Clare—so much so, that George refuses to attend the wedding. When Annabelle meets Clare in person, Clare is predictably dismissive of Annabelle and treats Annabelle as a lower-class guest who isn’t worthy enough to be socializing with Howard. Clare is annoyed that Howard has invited Annabelle to their wedding.

As an example of how unrealistic this movie is, this lavish wedding is supposed to take place at the inn, but there are no signs of the wedding preparations until a day or two before the wedding takes place. These wedding preparations conveniently are shown in the movie only when Howard bothers to tell Annabelle that he’s getting married that weekend. It also doesn’t make sense that a fussy and domineering woman like Clare would allow her wedding to be prepared in such a rushed and haphazard way.

Annabelle tries to hide her disappointment about Howard being engaged to marry another woman, after Howard gave Annabelle the impression that he was a widower who was available. Any self-respecting person would see that Howard hiding his engagement/relationship status shows a lack of honesty and lack of respect to the women involved. It would be a major red flag to anyone who wants a trustworthy partner in the real world. Later in the movie, Howard confesses to Annabelle that he lied when he insulted his late wife: His wife wasn’t a shrew, but she was actually a loving and wonderful person.

But in a corny movie like this one, this type of dishonesty and disrespect is swept under the proverbial rug, all in the name of having a fairytale romance. When Annabelle asks Howard why he didn’t tell her sooner that he was engaged to another woman, he curtly tells Annabelle that because he’s not American like she is, he doesn’t tell people everything about his personal life when he first meets them. It’s an absurd excuse, but Annabelle just accepts it, like the lonely and desperate doormat that she is.

The movie goes out of its way to make some not-very-funny jokes about the differences between Scottish and American cultures. In one part of the movie, Gavin and Annabelle have a little tiff over something, and Gavin calls her “stubborn,” while adding, “And I thought us Scots had a monopoly on that bullshit.” And there’s a running joke in the movie that Annabelle wears over-the-top tartan clothing, in an attempt to try to “fit in” with the Scots, but she just looks like she’s wearing some very bad parody costumes instead of comfortable clothing.

Another sight gag that works better in the movie is Annabelle’s special Whitman’s Sampler chocolate box, which she carries with her everywhere she goes, because her late husband Fred’s favorite movie was the 1994 Oscar-winning drama “Forrest Gump,” starring Tom Hanks as the title character. For people who haven’t seen “Forrest Gump,” it’s explained that the movie’s most famous line is when chocolate-loving Forrest Gump says, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” But Annabelle doesn’t have chocolates in that Whitman’s Sampler box. The box contains Fred’s ashes.

Howard thinks it’s creepy that Annabelle doesn’t have the ashes in an urn or another traditional container. Annabelle explains that it would be weird to carry an urn with her in public, so she uses the box of chocolates as the container for the ashes so that she won’t get strange reactions from people. As soon as the movie makes a big deal of showing Annabelle being overly attached to her husband’s ashes, you just know it’s going to be an issue at some point in the story.

When Howard asks Annabelle what her favorite movie is, she tells him it’s the 1968 film “Funny Girl,” starring Barbra Streisand. Howard quips that he’s glad her favorite movie isn’t “Psycho,” or else he’d have to keep her away from the shower. Annabelle tells him that’s okay because she prefers baths. This is an example of the “tit-for-tat” banter that takes place between Annabelle and Howard. It’s supposed to be reminiscent of old-school wisecracking romantic comedies, but most of the dialogue in “Then Came You” is just witless and dull.

Some of the dialogue of the film tries to be “edgy,” but it comes off as very juvenile, which is an embarrassment to people who are old enough to know better. In one scene, Annabelle, Howard and Gavin are hanging out together in a parlor at the inn. They are all tipsy from drinking alcohol. Annabelle says that her mother used to tell Annabelle that she was proud of Annabelle for having a lot of “spunk” in her.

Gavin and Howard start giggling, and Annabelle doesn’t understand why they think what she said is so funny. Then they tell her that “spunk” is slang for semen. Annabelle says she’s never heard of that before in her life. However, in the real world there actually are many Americans who know that “spunk” can be slang for semen. It’s yet another poorly written attempt at making a joke out of the differences between American and Scottish cultures.

And there’s some more bad dialogue in the movie, such as when Annabelle asks Howard, “Why are you drunk?” He replies, “Because I’ve had a lot of alcohol.” And then in another scene, a babbling Annabelle says, “You know what the trouble with trouble is? You don’t know you’re in trouble until you’re in trouble.” Annabelle and Howard drink quite a bit of alcohol in the movie, which should come as no surprise to people who know about Gifford and her former “Today” co-host Hoda Kotb and their habit of openly drinking alcohol on their morning TV show.

In addition to the unimpressive dialogue, another cringeworthy thing about the movie is when Annabelle takes it upon herself to help out with plumbing repairs in the inn (which has faulty faucets and sometimes no running water), her repair activities are used as sexual innuendos. When she goes into the basement for the repairs, Annabelle grunts, thrusts and gets wet from the pipe water, as the movie’s soundtrack plays screwball sex comedy music. Annabelle presumably wants to help with the repairs because she has a hardware background, but it’s completely illogical that a guest like Annabelle would volunteer to do such menial and dirty repairs. Unless she’s in a movie where her plumbing repair activity is used as a metaphor for her having sex.

And about Gifford’s singing, which is awkwardly scattered throughout the film: It’s a very “cruise ship performer” style of singing that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. She sings in the bathtub. She sings at a pub. She sings in front of people who don’t ask her to sing. And there’s a scene where Gifford and co-star Ferguson trade off singing verses of the same song in separate rooms, while she’s in the bathtub and he’s in the shower, as if they think they’re in a Doris Day/Rock Hudson musical.

To the movie’s great credit, “Then Came You” absolutely makes Scotland look gorgeous, thanks to the cinematography of Reynaldo Villalobos. But this isn’t a travelogue video. The movie is a maudlin romantic comedy that’s only as bearable as how much someone is willing to tolerate the schmaltziness of it all. There’s also an unnecessary subplot involving DNA test results.

Gifford tries very hard be “cute” and “sexy” in this movie, but there’s nothing really “cute” or “sexy” about a woman who’s treated like an easily manipulated ditz by a miserable, dishonest man who reluctantly lets her into his heart. There’s a specific audience for this type of outdated romance and this type of cornball movie. If you want a romantic comedy that realistically shows that men don’t have to be jerks and women don’t have to be desperate to fall in love, then you’ll have to look elsewhere, because “Then Came You” panders to the worst rom-com stereotypes.

Vertical Entertainment released “Then Came You” in U.S. cinemas for one night only through Fathom Events on September 30, 2020, and then on digital and VOD on October 2, 2020.

Then Came You (2020)

The type of nauseatingly formulaic romantic comedy that the Hallmark Channel would love to have called their own – and Netflix, nowadays – Then Came You is a vanity project if ever there was one, with writer/producer/lead Kathie Lee Gifford rolling out cliched dialogue and all too obvious “acting” among embarrassingly soft filters and a Scottish countryside that, whilst attractive, isn’t shot from an angle that differentiates itself from any other European-based genre entry.

Using her character’s aspirations of wanting to be a singer as an excuse to break out into studio-enhanced song whenever she sees fit, Gifford’s Annabelle Wilson – equally stuffy as she is sunny – has long given up her entertainer dreams and traded in for a suburban lifestyle with husband Fred in Nantucket. No children, a three-decade long marriage, and a successful hardware store later and Annabelle finds herself widowed; her “talking” aloud in their now empty home laying the foundation of her travel-ready mentality, whilst also confirming how incredibly unnatural Gifford is at emoting.

Because Fred and Annabelle loved movies, she’s decided to take her nest egg and take a trip around the world to visit 20 places that are all sites of their favourite movies, a sweet way of honouring Fred’s memory. Had Then Came You been more of a road-trip/adventure type film actually dedicated to visiting such film sites then there could have been something of interest on hand, instead she stakes a claim in Scotland (chosen because of the movie Braveheart ), finding herself an unlikely companion in Howard Awd (Craig Ferguson), the innkeeper of a 400-year-old castle he has transformed into a stately B&B. Of course, we say unlikely as if we’re surprised the two get together, what with him being so sarcastic and her being so…American?, but we know their happy ending before they do, and we wouldn’t really mind that much had Gifford decided to pepper the script with material that was remotely funny.

Playing out like most romantic comedies do, Then Came You hopes the back-and-forth of Gifford and Ferguson is enough to pass the time on a story we’ve seen told multiple times before – and far better – even throwing in the expected dramatic obstacle of Howard’s impending nuptials; not only is he marrying someone incredibly dull (a wasted Elizabeth Hurley as an apparent social climber named Clare), but within a matter of days too. How could he not have told Annabelle?!?!?! The marriage subplot brings about a lot of questions that you really shouldn’t have for a movie so incredibly light – we see no wedding preparation and their utter lack of chemistry should have been addressed long before a proposal – but, again, this would all be forgiven if Gifford and Ferguson could muster a smidge of chemistry.

There’ll be an audience for this type of outdated romantic rubbish i’m sure, and Ferguson – who is admittedly quite roguishly charming on his own accord – may be enough for audiences to persevere through, but Then Came You sadly panders to every genre stereotype possible, treating its characters with such insulting simplicities, which is even more unforgivable when you realise that women were at the helm as the production’s writer and director.

Then Came You is screening in Australian cinemas from March 11th, 2021.

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6 comments . leave new.

Watched it tonight & your review took the words right out of my mouth. Terrible movie. Would not recommend.

Sometimes us critics get it correct 🙂 I’m sorry you suffered through this too

Watched it a few days ago, wish I hadn’t. That is all.

One of the worst movies I’ve seen. The dog was adorable though.

I found myself yelling at the television, this was so bad. “This song AGAIN?!” And the terrible dialogue. I felt for Ferguson and Hurley in the breakup scene. Both of them were probably thinking “who wrote this soppy drivel? Oh right, our costar.” So much cringe.

Uttter crap, a complete waste of Craig ferguson’s talents. Liz Hurley, who is still gorgeous, is given nothing whatsoever to work with. And ford kiernen, still game fame, was definitely seriously under used. Given his hilarious acting abilities. I’m amazed some films get budget’s!

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Then Came You’ On Hulu, A Cheesy Rom-Com Starring Kathie Lee Gifford and Craig Ferguson

Where to stream:.

• Then Came You (2020)
• Stream It Or Skip It

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Stream it or skip it: 'cooking up murder: uncovering the story of césar román' on netflix, about an acclaimed spanish chef who was convicted of a grisly murder, stream it or skip it: ‘eileen’ on hulu, a dark, sexy noir-thriller starring anne hathaway and thomasin mckenzie, stream it or skip it: ‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’ on vod, in which guy ritchie directs a fictional spin on a real-life wwii era secret spy mission.

Names like Kathie Lee Gifford and Craig Ferguson are more synonymous with talk shows than the big screen, but in  Then Came You , now streaming on Hulu, the two of them ditch their famous personas for a widow and widower whose paths seem to cross thanks to fate. We’re here to tell you if they’re still able to make the same magic when they’re not allowed to share a wink and a smile directly into the camera. 

THEN CAME YOU : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Following the loss of her husband Fred, spunky widow Annabelle (Kathie Lee Gifford) embarks on a Eurotrip to check a few items off her bucket list and start anew. Her first stop? The Awd House Inn, Scotland, where she meets the inn’s proprietor Howard (Craig Ferguson), a man she has an immediate connection with. The two both seem to notice the chemistry but they continue their mildly hostile banter anyway, Howard playing defense about his own past as a widower, and Annabelle shutting down any jokes Howard wants to make about the fact that she keeps her husband’s ashes in a chocolate box (his favorite movie was  Forrest Gump ).

Like one might suspect, the two quickly begin to fall for each other, despite the fact that Howard is currently set to marry his once-flame Clare (Elizabeth Hurley), a woman he has very little chemistry with. During Annabelle’s time at the inn, she processes her grief, fixes a thing or two (Howard is  extremely  understaffed), and comes to more than a few realizations. Howard, for all his jokes and bits, is also quite mushy underneath it all, and while finding love again after loss might have seemed impossible at one point for the both of them, they might just find themselves surprised by the time all this is over.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?:  Then Came You  feels like the mid-tier, corny Hallmark and Lifetime (and now Netflix!) romances that are so popular, though it seems to wish it was more – especially with a performer like Ferguson in the mix.

Performance Worth Watching: Wally the dog is really the star of the show here, taking over bars, chasing cats, and sitting fireside. He also doesn’t have to deliver any of the hammy dialogue, so he really gets off easy.

Memorable Dialogue: So much of the dialogue in Then Came You is cheesy and contrived, but I got a kick out of Ferguson’s delivery of so many lines, including the following: “I do like a happy endin’. I think that’s why my favorite movie is Silence of the Lambs .” Ferguson also gets the only good monologue in the movie later on, a moving piece about the loss of his wife.

Sex and Skin: There are a few references to the deed and post-coitus banter, but nothing too crazy.

Craig Ferguson's Britney Spears Monologue Resurfaces Amid Doc Release

The cornily written dialogue might be passable if any of the conflicts in the film felt high stakes, but unfortunately, they don’t. The characters seem to come up to obstacles, look at them, and immediately overcome them, or there’s some kind of unearned reaction – like Annabelle freaking out after Howard picks at her in front of a group of men. It’s all over the place, and it loses sight of itself frequently, even if it has the best intentions. With the exception of the two leads, none of the other performers are given much to do – I questioned why Elizabeth Hurley was even there – which only speaks further to the lack of necessary conflict in the film. And some of the sequences are so nonsensical and out-of-place I double-checked to see if I was still watching the same movie.

There’s certainly room for a middle-aged, widowed couple rom-com out there, and with a little polishing – and maybe the help of a talented writer –  Then Came You  might have stepped up a level or two. I also wonder about Gifford acting in the film as well, but it does add to the personal feel of the story, which is one of its strong points. (There’s also the great running bit of Howard pretending to have a full staff and putting on quite the show to play every role). Ferguson and Gifford actually have a bit of chemistry, but it isn’t enough to save Then Came You  from itself. I wish there was more to hold onto here, but a little charm and sweetness (and Craig Ferguson sex appeal) can’t seal the deal alone.

Our Call: SKIP IT.  Then Came You  has a big heart and features Craig Ferguson at his absolute hottest, but it’s so corny it’s hard to recommend. (That said, your Hallmark movie-loving mom might LOVE it).

Should you stream or skip the Kathie Lee Gifford/ Craig Ferguson rom-com #ThenCameYou on @hulu ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) February 12, 2021

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski .

Watch Then Came You on Hulu

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'Then Came You': Movie Review

Then came you : movie review.

RATING: PG-13

(sexual material, some strong language)

October 2, 2020

Kathie Lee Gifford, Craig Ferguson, Elizabeth Hurley, Ford Kiernan

Adriana Trigiani

Vertical Entertainment

More on this movie at IMDb.com

THEN CAME YOU is a romantic comedy about an American widow who starts a world tour with her husband’s ashes to visit places they loved in the movies, but her first stop, at a lovely lakeside mansion in Scotland, changes her life. Starring Kathie Lee Gifford and Craig Ferguson, THEN CAME YOU is a funny, engaging romantic comedy, but the movie contains a fair amount of unnecessary foul language and several bawdy jokes, and some viewers will find the story a little predictable.

The movie opens with the widow, Annabelle, writing to Howard, the owner of the lakeside mansion who’s turned it into a Scottish inn, asking about visiting the inn. He writes back that she’s welcome to come.

Cut to Howard picking up Annabelle at the local train station. The two don’t hit it off, however. She doesn’t like his jokes, especially when he makes mild fun of some of the things she says.

As the first days pass, it becomes clear that Howard, who’s actually a noble Lord, is actually hurting financially because of the costly upkeep on the inn, which also is his family home. Annabelle and Howard start to grow on each other, even though Howard’s comments still sometimes grate on her. However, a surprise development makes Annabelle re-think starting a serious romance with this sarcastic but funny and appealing man from Scotland.

THEN CAME YOU is a funny, engaging romantic comedy. The script, which was also written by Kathie Lee Gifford, is nicely structured, with smooth, funny dialogue. Gifford has also written a couple great songs for the movie. The songs are truly Oscar worthy.

That said, the second of our two reviewers screening the movie found the story a little predictable. The movie has a mixed worldview. The two lovers sleep together, but they also get married. THEN CAME YOU also contains a fair amount of unnecessary foul language and several bawdy jokes. So, MOVIEGUIDE advises extreme caution. Please consult the CONTENT section for more information.

THEN CAME YOU is available on DVD and through some streaming services, such as Amazon Prime.

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Today's scripture.

Esther 4:14

"If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?"

Today's Devotion

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Screen Rant

The idea of you review: anne hathaway & nicholas galitzine's steamy chemistry elevates new rom-com.

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The Idea Of You Movie Changing Hayes Campbell's Age Avoided A More Divisive Detail From The Book

Anne hathaway's new amazon movie is a reminder to watch this 25-year-old rom-com with 84% on rt, 10 best rom-coms to watch if you like the idea of you.

• The Chemistry between The Idea of You's leads stands out as a highlight.
• Quiet, human moments excel in showcasing character depth.
• The script effectively balances emotion with comedy, despite being unrealistic at times.

Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You is a bittersweet tale of inconvenient love that emotionally pierces you in all the ways modern romantic comedies should. Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by actress and author Robinne Lee, the rom-com recounts the love affair between a 40-year-old single mother and a 24-year-old lead singer of a popular boy band. Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine star in this story full of love, tears, and adventure. Their chemistry is so delightful and steamy, making you cheer on their love from the minute they share their first kiss.

When Solène must step in to chaperone her teenage daughter’s trip to the Coachella Music Festival after her ex bails at the last minute, she has a chance encounter with Hayes and there is an instant, undeniable spark. As they begin a whirlwind romance, it isn’t long before Hayes’ superstar status poses unavoidable challenges to their relationship.

• The chemistry between Hathaway and Galitzine is the film's highlight.
• The quieter, human moments is the film's strength.
• The script effectively balances emotion and comedy.
• The film isn't as realistic as it needs to be in obvious moments.
• The band moments are lackluster when it comes to stage production.

The Idea of You Is At Its Best During Quiet, Human Connections

Solène Marchand (Hathaway) is a recent divorcee who lives in her Los Angeles home with her teenage daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin). In an attempt to recenter, Solène makes plans to go on a solo camping trip while ex-husband Daniel (Reid Scott) takes their daughter and friends to Coachella. As in typical rom-com fashion, fate interrupts Solène’s plans, and she must take Izzy to the music festival for a meet-and-greet with August Moon, the world’s biggest boy band. When she ends up in the trailer of lead singer Hayes Campbell (Galitzine), sparks fly immediately, and Solène’s world is turned upside down.

Showalter wrote the screenplay alongside screenwriting partner Jennifer Westfeldt. While it chronicles a whirlwind relationship between two unlikely lovers, its charm is in the quieter moments when we can better understand Solène and Hayes as individuals. Solène is a woman who values art and its deeper connection to the human experience. When she isn’t selling the latest samples at her gallery, she spends time with Izzy or reexamines her life at 40. These interactions are when The Idea of You is at its best: Solène with her family or friends instead of sulking around the house about her ex’s infidelities.

• The Idea of You (2024)

The Idea Of You's Script Can Be Silly, But Hathaway & Galitzine's Chemistry Makes It Worth Watching

The actors have sizzling onscreen moments.

These quieter moments are sprinkled throughout and emphasize the film’s key message about getting older. It’s less about age and more about gaining a breadth of new experiences in a different state of mind. But while this message is the story’s strength, the unrealistic occurrences get a bit more challenging to support. As an example, once Hayes and Solène dive deep into their relationship, it takes a while for the paparazzi to catch on to their romance. Conceptually, it doesn’t make sense, especially since Hayes is supposed to be one of the most popular celebrities in this setting.

Ignoring this silly script mishap, there’s still one major problem I had with The Idea of You . With August Moon apparently being the biggest pop boy band in the world, their performances and concert productions felt lackluster and cheap. It’s a shame considering the songs were quite catchy. But if the movie's trying to convince us of their celebrity and popularity, it should come with a bit more pizzazz. Of course, this is just a nitpick. The real star of this film is Hathaway and Galitzine’s chemistry. Their adoring interactions and affections felt natural and reason enough to see the film.

Their chemistry is so delightful and steamy, making you cheer on their love from the minute they share their first kiss.

A convincingly sweet tale about an unlikely pairing, The Idea of You is a romantic comedy that makes you believe in even the most unrealistic love stories. Showalter and Westfeldt demonstrate their ability to bring Lee’s bombastic romance to life with sincerity and attention to the story components that matter. Where the film lacks realism and sense, it is made up entirely by Hathaway and Galitzine’s sensational chemistry. This delightful and steamy rom-com is the kind of storytelling fans of the genre can be proud of. Thanks to some key emotional messaging, I wouldn't be surprised if fans found themselves watching this on repeat.

The Idea of You is now streaming on Prime Video.

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‘The Idea of You’ Review: Surviving Celebrity

Anne Hathaway headlines a movie that’s got a lot to say about the perils of fame.

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By Alissa Wilkinson

Women of a certain age (that is, my age) feel like they grew up alongside Anne Hathaway, because, well, we did. We were awkward teens together when she made “The Princess Diaries” in 2001. We felt ourselves to be put-upon entry-level hirelings right when “The Devil Wears Prada” came out in 2006. We understood her broken-down narcissistic addict in “Rachel Getting Married,” because who couldn’t? And we watched the Hathaway backlash, pegged to public perception that she was trying too hard, and worried that people saw us the same way.

Now we’re 40-ish. We know for sure that Gen Z considers millennials to be cringe, and, thankfully, we no longer feel the need to care. The greatest gift of reaching middle age is having settled into yourself, and that is apparently what Hathaway, age 41, has done . She has been through the celebrity wringer (and more ) and come out the other side looking radiant, with a long list of credits in movies that swing from standard commercial fare to auteurist masterpieces.

This is perhaps why it’s so satisfying to see her name come first — alone, before the title credit — in “The Idea of You,” which is on its surface a relatively fluffy little film. Based on the sleeper hit novel by Robinne Lee, “The Idea of You” is plainly fantasy, in the fan fiction mold, that poses the question: What if Harry Styles, the British megastar and former frontman of One Direction, fell madly in love with a hot 40-year-old mom? In this universe, the Styles character is Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the British frontman of a five-member boy band called August Moon.

Hathaway plays Solène Marchand, an art gallery owner whose arrogantly useless ex-husband, Daniel (Reid Scott), buys v.i.p. meet-and-greet tickets for their 16-year-old daughter, Izzy (Ella Rubin), and her two best friends, all of whom were huge August Moon fans … in the seventh grade.

The event is at Coachella, and Daniel is set to take the teenagers but backs out at the last second, citing a work emergency. Solène reluctantly agrees to take them, and while at the festival, mistakes Hayes’s trailer for the bathroom. They meet, it’s cute, and you can guess what happens next.

Or can you? It was clear about 10 minutes into the movie that what was required for enjoyment was to surrender to the daydreaming, and so, with very little internal protest, I did. How could I resist? Solène is smart, competent, kind and secure; she has great hair and a great wardrobe; and most important, she seems like a real person, even if the situation in which she finds herself greatly stretches the bonds of credibility.

More than once, I was struck by how authentically 40 Solène seemed to me — a woman capable of making her own decisions, even ones she thinks might be ill-advised — and how weirdly rare it is to see that kind of character in a movie. She has a kid, and friends, and a career. She reads books and looks at art, and she is flattered by this 24-year-old superstar’s attention but takes a long time to come around to the idea that it may not be a joke.

Solène also feels real shame and real resolve in the course of the winding fairy tale story, which predictably has to go south. But most of all, she’s in a movie that doesn’t try to shame her, or patronize her, or make her appear ridiculous for having desires and fantasies of her own. She’s just who she is, and it’s simple to understand her appeal to someone whose life has never been his own.

Directed by Michael Showalter, who wrote the adapted screenplay with Jennifer Westfeldt, “The Idea of You” succeeds mostly because of Hathaway’s performance, though she and Galitzine spark and banter pleasurably (and he can dance and sing, too). It tweaks the novel in a number of ways — Hayes is older than the book’s character, for one thing — and also seems to implicitly know it’s a movie, and that movies have a strange relationship with age-gap romances.

In fact, that’s one of its strengths. Several times, characters remark on the double standard attached to people’s judgment of Solène and Hayes’s relationship, hypothesizing that in a gender-swapped situation, people would be high-fiving the older man who landed the hot younger star. Sixteen years looks like a lot on paper, but in the movies, at least, it is barely a blip.

That musing is interesting enough, if a familiar one. More fascinating in “The Idea of You” is its treatment of the cage of celebrity. Hayes seems mature compared with his bandmates and the girls who follow them around, but he’s also clearly stuck in some kind of arrested development. And I do mean stuck: He is self-aware enough to tell Solène, plaintively, that he auditioned for the band when he was 14 and not much has changed beyond his level of fame. He wants a life beyond the spotlight, badly.

And that’s just what he can’t get. Neither can Solène, nor, eventually, anyone around her. The idea of living a quiet life might obviously be out of reach, but the added elements of tabloid news and rabid fans unafraid to treat Hayes as if they know him make things far worse. The film starts to feel a little like the tale of a monster, but the monster is parasociality, encouraged by the illusion of intimacy that the modern superstar machine relies on to keep selling tickets and merch and albums and whatever else keeps the star in the spotlight.

It’s probably coincidental that “The Idea of You” comes on the heels of Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on which she strongly implies that her carefully cultivated fandom has made her love life a nightmare. But spiritually, at least, they’re of a piece — even if the origins of the film’s plot seem as much borne of parasociality as a critique of it. And that makes Hathaway’s performance extra poignant. She’s been dragged into that buzz saw before. And somehow, she’s figured out how to make a life on the other side of it.

The Idea of You Rated R for getting hot and heavy, plus some language. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes. Watch on Prime Video .

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005. More about Alissa Wilkinson

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