idiom: anything but

anything but

by no means,
it's not the case at all,
certainly not,
the opposite of what you imagined, 

didn't turn out as planned,
nothing like it should have been

EXAMPLE

He went to see that new action film on Thursday night and it was anything but good, in fact, I fell asleep.

My uncle was anything but a sound sleeper, she kept me awake all night most of the first year.

They have no idea about money. They said it would be a cheap holiday; it turned out to be anything but.

The old clerk is anything but charming when I met him.

Their meeting schedule was anything but definite.