If you’ve landed upon the top 10 rankings of a streaming service this summer, you’ll have noticed a marked uptick in the number of movies about a mature woman a much younger man. The buzziest was based on Robinne Lee’s extra-spicy romance novel of the same name and starring Anne Hathaway, 41, and Nicholas Galitzine, 29. The plot follows a boy-band star (an amalgam of youthful heartthrobs ranging from Harry Styles to ) who pursues the mother of one of his fans, sweeping the gallerist into a globe-trotting affair.
Next came “A Family Affair,” in which Zac Efron, 36, plays a movie star who falls for the mother of his personal assistant, played by Nicole Kidman, 57. Despite Kidman’s A-list presence and skill, here’s a clue to the movie’s sophistication level: the original working title was Motherf****r. Iconic romcom heroine Bridget Jones is steering in this direction too.
Set to hit screens on Valentine’s Day 2025 is “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” the fourth instalment of the smash franchise, in which Renée Zellweger, 55, embarks on a romance with Leo Woodall, 27, fresh off “One Day” and “The White Lotus.” Reportedly, Bridget tries her hand at online dating and meets Woodall’s character; original heartthrob cad Hugh Grant, 63, returns too, and a “love triangle” ensues. “A Family Affair” is actually Kidman and Efron’s second go at playing age gap lovers — 2012’s “The Paperboy” was “sexy swamp raunch,” per Roger Ebert �.