'The Idea of You' review: Anne Hathaway Coachella romance sparkles

It's "Notting Hill" but gender-flipped and at Coachella in "The Idea of You," a grounded romantic comedy that handles its celebrity romance premise with nuance and uncommon grace.

Anne Hathaway stars as Solène Marchand, a 40-year-old divorced mother who gets saddled with taking her teenage daughter to Coachella after her ex-husband (Reid Scott) bails on her at the last minute. So it's off to the desert where boy band August Moon is one of the headliners, and during a VIP mix-up, Solène ends up in the trailer of the group's resident heartthrob Hayes Campbell ("Bottoms'" Nicholas Galitzine). They unexpectedly hit it off during their brief encounter, and soon Hayes is dedicating a song to Solène from the stage. See kids, if you're going to go to Coachella, it always pays to spring for the VIP ticket package.

A few days later at her Silver Lake art gallery — because, of course, Solène is an art dealer in Silver Lake — Hayes strolls into the shop and buys out the store. Is this flirting? Soon he invites her to his New York hotel room and to join him on the European leg of the group's tour. All this and she's not even a fan of August Moon, and he's 16 years her junior to boot.

This could easily be a hokey fantasy but director Michael Showalter, who co-wrote the script with "Kissing Jessica Stein's" Jennifer Westfeldt (it's based on a book by Robinne Lee), does a lot of things right. He takes his characters and their feelings seriously, and gives thought to the way a non-celebrity would handle something like a sudden barrage of tabloid headlines (in short, not well). Hathaway plays Solène like she's living in a dream world, until her bubble is pierced poolside by a group of catty girlfriends, who with just a few slyly cutting remarks realign her perception of the situation at hand. He also gives the group real on-stage dance moves and catchy songs, small details that matter in the big picture.

There's also a deep focus on the romance between Solène and Hayes, and the way it allows them to exist on a plane outside themselves. There are complications as reality sets in, as there would be when dealing with an international pop star (the original story is kinda-sorta based on Harry Styles fan-fiction), and "The Idea of You" is cognizant of these issues, while still playing up the idea that all a world famous celebrity really wants to do is settle down with someone normal, an idea that has fueled fandoms and celebrity crushes for as long as they've existed.

Hathaway and Galitzine are believable in their roles and have a palpable chemistry, even if Galitzine is the softest possible version of a boy band megastar. (You'd think, 10 years into his career, he'd be a bit more shrewd and less awestruck by the simple things in life, like homemade sandwiches.) It's Hathaway who really shines, making her character full blooded, passionate, cautious, apprehensive and willing to risk it all for a shot at love. She takes this "Idea" and makes it live and breathe.

'The Idea of You'

GRADE: B

Rated R: for some language and sexual content

Running time: 115 minutes

On Amazon Prime Video

agraham@detroitnews.com