Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban receives a medal from pro-Russia Bosnian Serb president Dodik

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday received a medal from the pro-Russian leader of Bosnia's Serbs, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. and Britain because of his separatist policies.

Orban visited the Bosnian Serb administrative headquarters of Banja Luka as part of a visit to Bosnia. He first traveled to Bosnia's capital Sarajevo on Thursday.

Bosnian Serbs are in charge of around half of Bosnia while the country's Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, and ethnic Croats run the other half. Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, a supporter of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, has sought to split from the rest of Bosnia.

There have been fears in the West that Russia could try to stir instability in Bosnia to avert some of the attention from the war in Ukraine. Bosnia remains ethnically tense and politically fragile years after a 1992-95 ethnic war.

European Union leaders last month agreed to open talks with Bosnia on joining the bloc in an effort to bring the country into its fold. Bosnia’s three-member multi-ethnic presidency said after a meeting with Orban on Thursday that it will continue on the EU path and thanked Hungary for its support.

Orban, who has often clashed with the EU because over his hard-line policies, said the Serbs are “essential” in Europe and the EU has failed to recognize that fact. Orban is also an ally of Serbia's populist leader Aleksandar Vucic.

“I think Serbia is not treated fairly (by the EU). Serbia doesn’t get the recognition it deserves,” said Orban. “Somehow, Europe does not understand that Serbs are essential in Europe. There is no security in Europe without Serbs. Without Serbs inside — there will be no healthy European Union.”

Dodik awarded Orban with the medal in January during a Bosnian Serb statehood holiday that has been declared unconstitutional by Bosnia's top court, but Orban was not present to receive it at the time. Dodik has dismissed criticism of the Jan. 9 celebrations, which mark the date in 1992 when Serbs in Bosnia first declared independence, triggering a war.

Bosnia's current two entities were formed in a U.S.-brokered peace agreement that ended the 1990s' war that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions displaced. Bosnia's Serbs have insisted on gaining as much autonomy as possible ever since.

Orban was accompanied by Hungarian businessmen during his Bosnia visit. Dodik awarded Putin with the same medal as Dodik.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, shakes hands with the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo prior to their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, shakes hands with the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo prior to their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, poses for a photo with the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo prior to their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban smiles during the meeting with the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo)

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik smiles during a meeting with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban looks on during his meeting with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, right, talks to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during their meeting in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, right, welcomes Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, right, welcomes Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, right, welcomes Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, receives the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, receives the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, receives the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, receives the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, receives the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks after receiving the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit to Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In this photograph made available by the Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks after receiving the Order of Republika Srpska from Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik during his visit to Banja Luka, Bosnia, Friday, April 5, 2024. Orban is on a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Republika Srpska Presidential Press Service via AP)

In the warmly charming rom-com “The Idea of You," Anne Hathaway plays a 40-year-old divorcee and Silver Lake art gallery owner who, after taking her teenage daughter to Coachella, becomes romantically involved with a 24-year-old heartthrob in the boy band August Moon. They first meet after she mistakes his trailer for the bathroom.

There are a few hundred things about this premise that might be farfetched, including the odds of finding love anywhere near the porta johns of a music festival. But one of them is not that a young star like Hayes Campbell ( Nicholas Galitzine ) would fall for a single mom like Solène (Hathaway).

Solène is stylish, unimpressed by Hayes' celebrity and has bangs so perfect they look genetically modified. And, most importantly, she's Anne Hathaway. In the power dynamics of “The Idea of You,” Hayes may be a fictional pop star but Hathaway is a very real movie star. And you don't forget it for a moment in Michael Showalter's lightly appealing showcase of the actor at her resplendent best.

“The Idea of You,” which debuts Thursday on Prime Video, is full of all the kinds of contradictions that can make a rom-com work. The highly glamorous, megawatt-smiling Hathaway is playing a down-to-earth nobody. The showbiz veteran in the movie is played by Galitzine, a less well-known but up-and-coming British actor whose performance in the movie is quite authentic. And even though the whole scenario is undeniably a glossy high-concept Hollywood fairy tale, Showalter gives it enough texture that “The Idea of You” comes off more natural and sincere than you'd expect.

The only thing that really needs to make perfect sense in a movie like “The Idea of You” is the chemistry. The film, penned by Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt from Robinne Lee's bestseller, takes its time in the early scenes between Solène and Hayes — first at Coachella, then when he stops by her gallery — allowing their rapport to build convincingly, and giving each actor plenty of time to smolder.

Once the steamy hotel-room encounters come in “The Idea of You,” the movie has, if not swept you away, then at least ushered you along on a European trip of sex and room service. At the same time, it stays faithful to its central mission of celebrating middle-aged womanhood. The relationship will eventually cause a social media firestorm, but its main pressure point is whether Solène can stick with Hayes after her ex-husband ( Reid Scott ) cheated on her. This is a fairy tale she deserves.

While Showalter ( "The Big Sick" ) has long showed a great gift for juggling comedy and drama at once, “The Idea of You” leans more fully into wish-fulfillment romance. That can leave less to sustain the film, which has notably neutered some of the things that distinguished the book.

The May-December romance has been shrunk a little. In the book, the singer is 20. Given that Galitzine is 29 and the 41-year-old Hathaway is no one's idea of old, this is more like a July-September relationship. In the book, the daughter (Ella Rubin) is a huge admirer of the pop singer, adding to the awkwardness, but in the movie, August Moon is “so 7th grade” to her.

There are surely more interesting and funnier places “The Idea of You" could have gone. But Hathaway and Galitzine are a good enough match that, for a couple hours, it's easy to forget.

But the most convincing thing about “The Idea of You”? August Moon. The movie nails the look and sound of boy bands so well because it went straight to the source. The original songs in the film are by Savan Kotecha and Carl Falk, the producer-songwriters of, among other pop hits, “What Makes You Beautiful," One Direction's debut single.

That connection will probably only further the sense that “The Idea of You" is very nearly “The Idea of Harry Styles.” The filmmakers have distanced the movie from any real-life resemblances. But one thing is for sure: With August Moon following 4(asterisk)Town of “Turning Red” (whose songs were penned by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell ), we are living in the golden age of the fictional boy band.

“The Idea of You,” an Amazon MGM Studios release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for some language and sexual content. Running time: 115 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Ella Rubin, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)