‘The Idea of You’ director Michael Showalter can’t help but go for the occasional laugh
It’s a line that sticks with you, Anne Hathaway’s character in “The Idea of You” being told, only somewhat sarcastically, that people don’t like happy women. “Women who live their lives out loud, who are proud of who they are, going for whatever it is they want, whether that’s career or romance or anything — I think society tends to react negatively to that,” says the film’s director and co-writer, Michael Showalter says during phone interview less than a week before the film’s debut May 2 on Prime Video. “There’s something threatening about it — about a woman who is unapologetic about pursuing her own desire.” Adapted from the novel by Robinne Lee and co-written by Jennifer Westfeldt (“Kissing Jessica Stein”), “The Idea of You” tells the story of Hathaway’s Solène Marchand, a divorced single mom and successful art gallery director who, having just turned 40, does her best not to fall for Nicholas Galitzine’s Hayes Campbell, a 24-year-old singer in a popular boy band who gives her the full-court press. It is the latest film from Showalter, once a cast member of the cult-fave