It’s never going to be winning any awards or go down as some sort of classic adaption but Anyone but you is a seemingly straight forward Romantic comedy with pretty funny moments. However, scratching the surface a little and it is a reasonable adaptation of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ perhaps not a faithful reproduction of the script but rather a clear representation of the important themes. Beyond this it makes obvious connections to the play in terms of overall plot and characterisation although some pretty clear differences exist in an attempt to fit into a 21st century context.

Value as an adaptation

Now most of the internet buzz states that Anyone but you is loosely based on the play however I feel like that is probably a bit of a disservice due to a lack of a deeper understanding of the play and is based directly on plot. Where as as an English teacher with a background in Shakespeare I would say that the film remains true to the ideas of play with some fairly obvious surface level references. Initially the link is established with the quote on the wall as Bea leaves Ben’s apartment “Here’s much to do with hate, but more to do with love”. While the quote is actually from Romeo and Juliet it does connect to one of the main ideas of the film that Bea and Ben’s banter is much like in the the play is based on attraction.

The connection is more quickly reinforced with the introduction of more characters as the modernisation of the names are pretty obvious, Bea and Ben (Benedick and Beatrice) / Claudia and Halle (Claudio and Hero). These links continued with the host of other characters whose names are often a subtle variation on the originals including Jonathan (Don John) although his character is attempting to break up a different couple in the film. As it continues there are more direct references to the play with several characters quoting the play directly followed by the line “I just made it up”. In addition there is a discussion between Ben and Bea regarding the ‘masquerade’ as they pretend to be in love with each other before the cruise on Sydney harbour and their over the top display doing ‘Titanic’. While very different a pivotal scene in the play is a masquerade where Don John creates a show to split up Claudio and Hero, in this sense it acts as a homage. This is perhaps an example of where the adaption goes deeper then the basic tropes that Much ado about nothing helped establish as the film highlights the major theme of deception but in a different way.

A necessary change

The major plot change with the film is almost the complete remove of the conflict between Claudia and Halle to a simple overheard argument which lacks any real credibility as a potential to upset their nuptials. The decision to make it a lesbian relationship is an obvious decision to include more diversity and create a more modern representation. It also serves way of referencing some of the events of the play through the wedding invite video with Halle’s dad making a fake objection (seemingly based on a same-sex marriage) but ultimately due to the absences of Claudia’s family. Realistically it is probably as far as the film could go without impacting the light hearted nature of the adaptation as the events of the play create issues for modern audiences.

In the play, Claudio is tricked by Don Jon at the Masquerade to believe that Hero is cheating and is not ‘pure’. He than shames her at the alter in front of everyone and publicly humiliates her and labelling her as whore. A plan is then put in place for Hero to fake her own death and make Claudio feel guilty while Don Jon’s trickery is revealed. Ultimately, after everything is revealed all is forgiven and the two end up married. Even when watching the play as a scholar and placing things in Shakespeare’s context the idea that Hero would take Claudio back is hugely problematic for feminine audiences. The idea that any women would be so quick to forgive such a public attack and shaming is difficult to accept, and audiences would be definitely caught up with the idea that she shouldn’t have forgiven him rather then just being swept away by the romance. While the gender switch may have made this less confronting as a representation of patriarchal oppression it is an added complexity that isn’t easy to get around to maintain a light hearted rom com. The easiest way around it is to cut it completely.

Aussie Cliche’s

Personally the biggest weakness of the film is the reliance and usual American over playing of supposed Aussie cliche’s. As an Australian I often find some of these just exceptionally stupid and borderline offensive as they often show a lack of research at best or an attempt to mock our country. Especially in this case the cliche’s are over the top and just don’t make sense as some of the so called Australian slang is not only not in common usage but aren’t even known to me. It suggest that some of them might be specific to Queensland or WA but to suggest that someone in Sydney would be using them, it is like suggesting that an average New Yorker can be equated with someone from Texas. One of the other ones that made me laugh was the coffee, while it is true we have an amazing coffee culture in Australia that it perhaps hard to imagine for international, especially American visitors, but Melbourne is definitely the coffee capital and in fact Sydney is regularly mocked for their coffee. Then of course we have all the normal wildlife references, perhaps it is an opportunity for us Australians to laugh at the fact that some would believe this rubbish but ultimately once in a while it would be good to have a more accurate representation.

Final Thought

It is definitely not a high brow version of Shakespeare but Anyone But You is an enjoying watch, filled with some good laughs and a little more depth. That being said, Shakespeare wrote for the general public, the rowdy people in the stands that went to the globe so the idea of an accessible and entertaining reimaging of one of his plays is true to the overall feeling behind is work. Unfortunately, this is something too many academics and critics often forget.