Based on a novel by the same name, The Idea Of You follows the story of a beautiful 40 year old woman, Solene who falls for a 24 year old boy, Hayes who is the lead singer of a band called August Moon. And even as their love finds a way to bloom, the exterior factors revolvimg around the society, their lifestyles and a young teenage daughter of Solene would eventually decide their fate. The story here is breezy while also being slightly run-on-the-mill kind of a romance that is explored between two individuals with a large age gap. The complexities of love are briefly explored as well yet the story does tread on a fairly predictable route that eventually makes for a decent watch over the course of its runtime of a shade less than 2 hours. 

The drama begins with the introduction of Solene, a beautiful woman on the cusp of turning 40, having a doting ex-husband and a teenage daughter who is a huge fan of the August Moon band, featuring the other lead protagonist Hayes. A chance encounter between the two individuals does briefly raise sparks even though Solene is conscious of the age difference between the two – at one point he even jokingly refers to Haynes as ‘a seven year old’ with whom her wavelength does not match to begin with(or so she is programmed to believe so). Yet, the sizzling chemistry between the two is pretty evident even as Hayes changes his setlist in order to dedicate a song to his new found love, to even secretly pursuing Solene at an Art gallery that she works in. Sparks only but fly as a seemingly reluctant Solene begins to fall head over heels for a much younger guy, oblivious to her daughter wherein she wishes to keep their relationship a tidy secret. But the perks of dating a celebrity does come with its own share of disadvantages! 

The events are fairly interesting primarily due to the amazing act by Anne Hathway who holds the proceedings together with her likable personality and expressions. The situations that the lead characters find themselves in, is at times at the behest of the society and the conditioning of folks around them. For instance, very early on in the film you see the character of Solene wishing to find love in men of her age group which she just cannot connect with. Yet, she eventually does at a place that she least expects it in! But the complications of love related to age is something that was only briefly touched upon in the third act. Before that, a rather steamy affair between two individuals is explored upon that probably forms the best part of the drama. From the time the two protagonists bump into each other for the first time to their full blown affair, the drama is seemingly impressive! 

I really wish the drama did explore a lot more complications by getting into the psyche of Solene who was clearly at the receiving end of the society and the paps. To be fair, the plot point of insecurity related to age was briefly touched upon but at no point did the writing penetrate the top layer by seeping deep into the psyche of the individual. As a result, the drama continues to stay frothy and predictable, often sticking to an emotional route whereas in reality, the dark realms of a modern day relationship could have been further explored, some related to the society, the media, the family and even social media – the plot points that were just about touched upon in the final act. Yet, the finale(and the pre-finale) was pretty moving and did ascend the drama to a point, thereby summing up the screenplay that was breezy and frothy but also pretty safe and predictable.