Set It Up: the 2018 Netflix romcom that became a classic of the genre
Working long into the night for their Machiavellian bosses, a serendipitous meet-cute brings two beleaguered assistants together. There is Harper (Zoey Deutch), who dreams of making it as a writer like her boss, gun sports editor Kirsten Stevens (Lucy Liu, accurately described as having “a fierceness that’s both scary and inspiring”).
And there is Charlie (Glen Powell), who is desperate for a promotion, hoping to impress not only his boss, unscrupulous VC power player Rick Otis (Taye Diggs, revelling in his role as an arrogant jerk) but also his materialistic model girlfriend Suze (actual Victoria’s Secret model Joan Smalls).
The two exhausted subordinates devise a plan to deploy some Cyrano-adjacent tactics on their single bosses, hoping that, in the fog of new love, Rick and Kirsten will reward Harper and Charlie with promotions – and some much-needed time-off so they can pursue their own love lives. But as Harper and Charlie are busy Parent Trapping their bosses into falling in love, their best friends Duncan and Becca (Pete Davidson and Meredith Hagner) are subtly attempting to do the same to them. It is Cyrano-ception.
Deutch (more recently seen flexing her comedic chops in the 2022 influencer satire Not Okay) bursts onto the screen with movie star magnetism. Combining moxie and vulnerability, Deutch infuses Harper with both determination and tender sensitivity in her quest for professional and personal fulfillment. In another actor’s hands, Harper could have been annoyingly earnest, but Deutch has endearing girl-next-door relatability.
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And Powell continually surprises with his impressive comedic work (at times akin to the early work of Jim Carrey, without ever mugging for the camera). His comic chops could have easily been overshadowed by his boyish charm and matinee idol looks; instead, they are among his strongest assets. He is particularly delightful when delivering a line with sarcasm, while producing a thousand subtle facial expressions, each somehow unique to the rest.
It’s this duality of Charlie’s cynicism and Harper’s optimism that results in the perfect sparring partnership. Deutch and Powell both ooze charisma, harkening back to the iconic rom-com pairing of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday.
Deutch and Powell similarly bounce around their offices both physically and verbally, with both actors given plenty of chances to demonstrate their mastery of physical comedy.
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With so much immediate chemistry vibrating between Deutch and Powell, the director, Claire Scanlon, makes the astute decision to not give the characters many opportunities to look directly at one another in their first few scenes together. As their relationship deepens, so too does their eye contact. It’s a clever tactic in a movie that’s built around connections in a fast-paced world.
The backbone of the film is its spunky screenplay by screenwriter Katie Silberman who went on to pen Booksmart and Don’t Worry Darling. Silberman’s saucy screenplay subverts expectations of an often derided genre – there is some rapid-fire dialogue, quotable one-liners (Powell delivers an unforgettable, drunken ode to pizza you won’t soon forget) and a couple of surprise C-bombs from Liu.
We now find ourselves in somewhat of a rom-com-naissance: Anyone But You, also starring Powell, took in a staggering US$219m at the global box office earlier this year, while To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Palm Springs and Always Be My Maybe have dominated streaming charts.
But this hasn’t always been the case. “We did hear a lot, ‘We love the script, but romantic comedies are hard’,” Set It Up producer Juliet Berman told the Hollywood Reporter in 2018. “People have always wanted these types of movies but for a while, they just weren’t made. There was a vacuum.” And yet, Set It Up already feels like it belongs among the classics of the genre.
Set It Up is available to stream globally on Netflix. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here