SET IT UP: Zoey Deutch & Glen Powell To The Rescue

Each time a new romantic comedy is released, it feels like I inevitably write something about the genre’s virtual extinction. To be fair, it’s a little more noteworthy this time around, since the biggest romantic comedy of the summer went straight to Netflix. I have mostly good things to say about the streaming giant, but sneaking this film onto the platform feels a bit like a letdown.

Even with a Netflix debut, the buzz has been steadily building from Set It Up, which arrives from director Claire Scanlon and screenwriter Katie Silberman. The film is working from a fairly rote and boilerplate rom-com template, but it mostly exists as a vehicle for its two young, hugely charming leads. There are a few cute moments, and Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell have downright wonderful chemistry. What more could anyone want?

Overworked Assistants Need A Break

Set in the bustling metropolis of New York, Set It Up follows two different assistants from two very different industries. Deutch plays Harper (this is the second Netflix comedy I’ve seen with a woman named Harper in the span of a month, just pointing that out), who toils for famous and highly demanding sports journalist Kirsten (Lucy Liu). Powell is Charlie, who serves as an assistant for volatile businessman Rick (Taye Diggs) in the hopes of snagging a coveted promotion.

Harper and Charlie hate their jobs, but they’re also in very different stages of their lives. Harper once dreamed of becoming a sports journalist, as she loves how these games can bring people together in a powerful way. But she hasn’t written a single article in her time with Kirsten, which was the whole point of the assistant work anyhow. Charlie has a beautiful girlfriend (Joan Smalls) and a prime position at a major firm, but is he happy working with a bunch of corporate monsters?

After a testy late night encounter, Harper and Charlie commiserate over their disdain for their bosses. Suddenly, they devise a remarkably clever plan, one that would decrease their workload and quadruple their free time. The two overworked, underpaid aides are going to make their bosses fall in love, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them.

Miraculously (or not-so-miraculously, if you’ve seen a rom-com before), their master plan works, causing the prickly corporate overlords to fall for each other. But as Harper and Charlie are drawn closer together, their contrasting personalities and different values end up causing friction. They seem to be a perfect match, but could it ever be more than just a business partnership?

Familiar Rom-Com Tropes

Set It Up isn’t reinventing the romantic comedy wheel, nor is it really trying to do so. Scanlon and Silberman are using the basic framework of the genre to play around with these talented actors and fun characters, maybe even finding something profound to say about love along the way. This sense of familiarity and predictability means that there’s plenty of lightweight fun to be had here, with breezy charms and exceedingly cute incidents making this a pleasant journey.

But it’s also a frustrating one, as there’s a very fine line between twisting tropes and merely recycling them. Set It Up is full of peaks and valleys, a film that soars one moment and crashes the next. You can feel Scanlon and Silberman stretching to have some kind of comedic edge at various points, reaching for acidity and biting satire and outright failing.

It doesn’t help that the film falters when it comes to the relationship between Taye Diggs‘ Rick and Lucy Liu‘s Kirsten, two people who are about as unlikable as humanly possible. Don’t get me wrong, the actors play these roles to perfection, seemingly having a good bit of fun as these borderline caricatures. But a love story between two sociopaths is…..well, not all that compelling. Silberman‘s screenplay smartly keeps the horrible bosses on the backburner, but they’re an unfortunately essential piece of the puzzle.

While Set It Up deserves kudos for the casting of Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell, it fails to support them with anything substantial. You can feel the film lose itself completely when the charming young leads aren’t sharing the screen, floundering and faltering without the sheer power of these rising stars. It feels sloppy, like the filmmakers didn’t quite know how to make it work without their chemistry.

Star Performances From Zoey Deutch & Glen Powell

Thankfully for us, I’d wager that about 75% of the film features Deutch and Powell sharing the screen together, trading verbal shots and getting closer to each other every step of the way. The two actors co-starred in Richard Linklater‘s brilliant Everybody Wants Some!! in 2016, so I already knew what they could do when given the right material. But it’s amazing to see the energy they bring to this movie, the effortless rapport that arises at the most important of moments.

From their very first scene to their last moment, Deutch and Powell are downright electric. After struggling through the first 15-minutes or so, the film absolutely comes alive during their initial meet-cute. Deutch is such a sunny and genuinely bright presence, the kind of actress who lights up the screen seemingly without even trying. She should be a superstar, and I hope she gets more roles that allow her to show off her talents.

Powell‘s roles have been less substantial since his breakout performance as Finnegan in the aforementioned Linklater flick, but he channels that same mix of snark and gentleness that made him a star in the first place. While Charlie comes off as something of a wannabe corporate monster, there’s a sweetness to Powell‘s performance that lets you know where his real loyalties lie.

The stars are good enough on their own, but put them together, and you have something really special. Powell‘s sarcastic delivery is a perfect match for Deutch‘s sunny demeanor, and it’s delightful to watch their cynical and optimistic tendencies clash in a battle of wits. They carry the movie, and they do so in the most charming way possible.

Set It Up: Conclusion

As a sucker for this kind of romantic idealism, Set It Up slapped a goofy smile on my face during its best moments. And as a fan of these stars, I was ecstatic to see them sharing the screen as the romantic leads. By the time everything came together, the film had me in its beautifully sweet grasp.

But there are some bumps along the way, a few too many twists and turns in a story that doesn’t demand this much conflict. While Set It Up is undoubtedly worth the watch for Deutch and Powell alone, I wish their talents were in service of a slightly more memorable movie. Still, that’s a small complaint for a movie that delivers simple pleasures as easily as this one does.

What did you think of Set It Up? What are some of your favorite modern romantic comedies? Let us know in the comments below!

Set It Up was released worldwide on Netflix on June 15.