What if the person you consider your soulmate isn’t your best friend? That’s the question at the heart of “All of You,” a new film starring Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots, which debuted on Apple TV+ on September 26, 2025. Described as a "rom-com-dram," the movie is already sparking conversations about the complicated, often messy nature of modern love and friendship.
According to reporting from AP News, the story follows Simon (Goldstein) and Laura (Poots), two best friends whose relationship is tested by a fictional soulmate test—a device that promises to take all the guesswork out of love. The film, co-written by Goldstein and William Bridges (an Emmy winner for his work on Black Mirror), and directed by Bridges, doesn’t shy away from the emotional complexity of its premise. Instead, it leans in, exploring what happens when the lines between friendship and romance blur, and whether destiny or choice should guide the heart.
The idea for “All of You” was born out of a candid conversation between Goldstein and Bridges. As Goldstein recalled in an interview, “I think everyone has this friendship. There’s someone in their life that is not their partner that they have a connection that feels more than friends, but what is that? What is love? And does it take away from the other? We just wanted to explore all of that over time.”
For Simon and Laura, the journey begins when Laura decides to take the soulmate test, with Simon by her side—he even pays for it. The test matches Laura with someone else, and she soon finds herself planning a future with her new partner. Simon, meanwhile, chooses to navigate love the old-fashioned way, clinging to the belief that true connection can’t be boiled down to algorithms or scientific certainty.
But the film doesn’t just pit technology against tradition. It’s more nuanced, showing that even with a supposed guarantee of happiness, doubt and longing persist. As Imogen Poots observed, “All a person is the choices they make or don’t make, and I think that feelings and desire and love, these are completely out of your control. And I don’t think you can vilify a person for sort of having them. It’s just when they follow through it obviously complicates things.” (AP News)
One of the film’s strengths is its refusal to make things easy for the audience. Laura’s soulmate and eventual husband, played by Scottish actor Steven Cree, isn’t a villain or a caricature. He’s kind, loving, and a good father. Goldstein explained, “One thing we didn’t want to do that I think romantic comedies do a lot is they make the other guy boring or a (expletive)-head. So you’re going, ‘Oh, obviously not him.’ You have to kind of stack the odds against all of them because that is more real and it’s much more challenging, I think, for an audience because I think you are going ‘I want this thing to happen and I also don’t want this thing to happen.’”
The story unfolds over months and years, skipping time to show how relationships evolve and how the characters wrestle with regret, hope, and the ever-present question of “what if?” The film’s structure, which is linear but jumps forward in time, mirrors the way real relationships can sometimes feel—a series of moments, some pivotal, some mundane, all adding up to something larger than the sum of their parts.
“All of You” has drawn comparisons to classic romantic comedies like “When Harry Met Sally,” but Goldstein and Bridges weren’t consciously aiming for that. Only after finishing the film did they realize the parallels. There’s even an unintentional homage to another cinematic touchstone: a key scene was filmed in the same English Channel cottage in East Sussex that served as a backdrop for the film “Atonement.”
Yet, as Bridges told AP News, the team behind “All of You” wanted to move away from the tidy, happily-ever-after endings of older rom-coms. “We have seen the movie where somebody runs to the train station at the end and confesses undying love and the movie ends and the idea is they live happily ever after. But I’m not quite sure that that’s the experience of love that a lot of people have. I think they’re looking for love stories rather than romance stories.”
This focus on the real, sometimes painful aspects of love is what makes “All of You” resonate with viewers. The film isn’t afraid to ask tough questions or to leave some of them unanswered. It acknowledges that love can be both exhilarating and heartbreaking, that friendship and romance can coexist uneasily, and that the choices we make—or don’t make—can define us.
In a recent video interview published by Global News just hours before the film’s release, Goldstein and Poots discussed what drew them to the project and what they hope audiences will take away. The conversation, filmed in New York City, also touched on the popularity of Goldstein’s Apple TV+ series “Shrinking,” but it was clear that “All of You” is a different kind of story—one that’s willing to sit with ambiguity and explore the gray areas of human connection.
The film’s almost futuristic premise—a test that can supposedly identify your soulmate—serves as a springboard for broader questions about the nature of love. Is there such a thing as a soulmate? Or is love something that’s built over time, through shared experiences and mutual understanding? “All of You” doesn’t offer easy answers, but it does invite viewers to reflect on their own relationships and the choices they’ve made.
While the film is undeniably romantic, it’s also deeply grounded in reality. The characters are flawed, their decisions sometimes frustrating, but always relatable. As Poots put it, “I was really conflicted, but I also felt great compassion for each of the characters.”
“All of You” arrives at a time when audiences are craving stories that reflect the complexities of real life. As AP News noted, modern movies like “Materialists” and “Splitsville” are part of a new wave of films that move beyond the aspirational romances of the past, focusing instead on love in all its messiness.
For anyone who’s ever wondered if they made the right choice in love—or if the person they’re closest to is really “the one”—“All of You” offers a poignant, thought-provoking exploration. It doesn’t promise easy answers, but it does promise honesty, heart, and maybe even a few tears.
With its strong performances, nuanced writing, and willingness to tackle the big questions, “All of You” is poised to become one of the year’s most talked-about films. Whether you’re a believer in soulmates or a skeptic, it’s a story that’s sure to linger long after the credits roll.
