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In my last review, which was of the terrible teen romance film The Kissing Booth, I mentioned that a film in this genre can live or die by the chemistry of the romantic leads. The Kissing Booth did it wrong, Set It Up does it right. Zoey Deutch & Glen Powell, two actors I've come to like recently, team up here and they work well off each other. They both starred in the Linklater film Everybody Wants Some and were highlights of that. Now they play assistants to terrible bosses that overwork and underpay them. In an effort to get more free time for themselves, they decide to set their bosses up in a 'meet-cute' and hopefully that alleviates some of the pressure on themselves. In order to orchestrate this fake relationship, they need to spend more time together, maybe some sparks will fly between them instead of their bosses?
I know, I get it. It's another typical romantic comedy. This one is aimed for an audience that is a little older than Kissing Booth. It's a film that doesn't insult the audience. As I mentioned before, it's the chemistry that makes it work. Deutch and Powell are likeable by themselves, but together they bring a believable relationship that hits those 'cute' marks. They meet, they hit it off, bump in the road stalls everything, they make up in the end. These two characters are doormats for their bosses the entire film, until they manage to stand up for themselves and actually go after a dream or something that won't make them hate their lives. It ends on a more upbeat positive note.
Their bosses are Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs. Diggs seems to have a lot of fun in the role of the overly angry and dismissive rich guy who wants to do nothing but one-up his ex-wife. Liu is the hard working "I'm a bitch because I'm successful" business woman. Both are smaller roles, but they did well enough to make their degrading of their assistants funny. Diggs is a more over the top caricature, but it was fun.
This Netflix film is one that I recommend over tripe like Kissing Booth. It's smarter, more encouraging to women and has a talented cast. I fully expect to see more great things from the two leads (Deutch is Lea Thompson's daughter by the way). Check it out for some lighthearted fun.
Set It Up
(Claire Scanlon)
(Claire Scanlon)
In my last review, which was of the terrible teen romance film The Kissing Booth, I mentioned that a film in this genre can live or die by the chemistry of the romantic leads. The Kissing Booth did it wrong, Set It Up does it right. Zoey Deutch & Glen Powell, two actors I've come to like recently, team up here and they work well off each other. They both starred in the Linklater film Everybody Wants Some and were highlights of that. Now they play assistants to terrible bosses that overwork and underpay them. In an effort to get more free time for themselves, they decide to set their bosses up in a 'meet-cute' and hopefully that alleviates some of the pressure on themselves. In order to orchestrate this fake relationship, they need to spend more time together, maybe some sparks will fly between them instead of their bosses?
I know, I get it. It's another typical romantic comedy. This one is aimed for an audience that is a little older than Kissing Booth. It's a film that doesn't insult the audience. As I mentioned before, it's the chemistry that makes it work. Deutch and Powell are likeable by themselves, but together they bring a believable relationship that hits those 'cute' marks. They meet, they hit it off, bump in the road stalls everything, they make up in the end. These two characters are doormats for their bosses the entire film, until they manage to stand up for themselves and actually go after a dream or something that won't make them hate their lives. It ends on a more upbeat positive note.
Their bosses are Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs. Diggs seems to have a lot of fun in the role of the overly angry and dismissive rich guy who wants to do nothing but one-up his ex-wife. Liu is the hard working "I'm a bitch because I'm successful" business woman. Both are smaller roles, but they did well enough to make their degrading of their assistants funny. Diggs is a more over the top caricature, but it was fun.
This Netflix film is one that I recommend over tripe like Kissing Booth. It's smarter, more encouraging to women and has a talented cast. I fully expect to see more great things from the two leads (Deutch is Lea Thompson's daughter by the way). Check it out for some lighthearted fun.