Divorced SoCal art gallerist Solène (Anne Hathaway) is turning 40 and trying to gain a sense of herself as a single woman. Her daughter, Izzy (Ella Rubin), is going to Coachella with her friends where their once-favorite boy band August Moon is headlining, and so Solène is planning on taking a solo camping trip in an attempt to center herself while they are away. As she is loading her gear into her car, her ex-husband Daniel (Reid Scott) and his new wife Eva (Perry Mattfeld), with whom he was having an affair, pull up and declare that a business emergency will prevent them from taking the teens to the festival as planned, and so Solène is roped into doing it instead.

At Coachella, the kids head off to see whatever trendy new act has captured their attention while Solène lingers around the VIP tent. Sneaking out to find a restroom, she instead accidentally wanders into the trailer of August Moon frontman Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine). Despite being nearly twice his age, the pair have some obvious chemistry, and he becomes so immediately infatuated with her that he winds up dedicating a song to her during that night’s performance.

Later, he surprises Solène at her art gallery, where he buys out her entire stock and gets her to spend the day with him. They seem to mesh very well together, clearly happy in each other’s company, but she struggles with the age gap and ultimately sends him away. But when Izzy heads to Summer Camp he reaches out to convince her to join him at his hotel in New York and she surprises herself by agreeing, and the next thing you know it she is tagging along during the European leg of August Moon’s tour, having a blast, and trying to keep their relationship out of the press.

This is pure, escapist fluff of the best kind that is bound to delight romance lovers. Some may find their connection develops a little too quickly, but Hathaway and Galitzine have such an easy chemistry with each other that it’s quickly overlooked. When you have two attractive people with such natural charisma it’s almost impossible to imagine them not falling in love. It can’t all be luxury hotels, fabulous clothes, and steamy sex scenes however, and any romance watcher knows a problem will arise in the third act to rip the lovers apart. This is one of the better ones though, and it feels believable in the way it exposes the double standards society imposes on women and the toxic way that fans can sometimes engage with public figures.

Director Michael Showalter doesn’t put any real stylistic marks on the movie, which is a shame considering one of the characters is an art dealer, but the script, co-written with Jennifer Westfeldt and based on the novel by Robinne Lee, and the talented cast are strong enough to carry viewers willingly along for the ride. The soundtrack is surprisingly delightful as well, featuring an eclectic mix of indie acts and several original earworm August Moon songs, sung by Galitzine and written by Savan Kotecha, who has previously worked with One Direction, Ariana Grande, and Britney Spears. I love movies that aspire to high art, but everyone needs an escape once in a while, and The Idea of You offers that up in spades. ★★★★

rated r for some language and sexual content.

★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor