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Set It Up
2018's Set it Up is an overly cute and predictable romantic comedy that tests viewer patience primarily because the secondary leads are a lot more interesting than the primary ones.
Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) both work as personal assistants to high-powered executives in Manhattan. After their initial meet cute, they decide the way to relieve a lot of the stress in their jobs would be to set their bosses up with each other, since they work in the same building. As their elaborate plan to get Charlie's boss, Rick (Taye Diggs) and Harper's boss Kirsten (Lucy Liu) slowly comes to fruition, Charlie and Harper don't even see themselves falling for each other.
Katie Silberman's screenplay does take some accurate potshots at New Millenium yuppie-dom, but there are just a few too many players on this rom-com chessboard that pull focus from the primary story. Not only do Charlie and Harper have their own romances to extricate themselves from, but Rick has an ex-wife who he still has unresolved feeling for. There's a scene near the beginning of the film where it looks like Charlie and his girlfriend are breaking up, but twenty minutes later, the girlfriend is still clinging onto Charlie and we're wondering if Harper is ever going to fit in.
The other problem here is this film , on the surface, supposed to be about the romance between Charlie and Harper, but we never really buy Charlie and Harper as a star-crossed romance. On the other hand, the manufactured romance between Rick and Kirsten is so much fun; unfortunately, they only have half the screentime that Charlie and Harper have. This film would have been a lot more fun if it had been about Rick and Kirsten, but the point of the story is that the romance is manipulated by their assistants who fall in love, but we never really care about the relationship between the assistants.
Director Claire Scanlon, whose primary directing experience has been in television, doesn't put a lot of imagination into the presentation other than effective on-location photography in Manhattan. Glen Powell, who has been doing supporting roles for awhile, including his memorable John Glenn in Hidden Figures is terrific as Charlie but has zero chemistry with Deutch, who seems to be trying to channel Jennifer Aniston in her interpretation of Harper. I did LOVE Taye DIggs and Lucy Liu and this film could have been great if it had been centered around their characters. Pete Davidson is wasted in a small thankless role as Charlie's gay roommate. The film gives us two romances, but only one really works and the rushing-to-the-airport finale that we saw in every 19890's rom-com was the cinematic straw that broke the camel's back.
2018's Set it Up is an overly cute and predictable romantic comedy that tests viewer patience primarily because the secondary leads are a lot more interesting than the primary ones.
Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) both work as personal assistants to high-powered executives in Manhattan. After their initial meet cute, they decide the way to relieve a lot of the stress in their jobs would be to set their bosses up with each other, since they work in the same building. As their elaborate plan to get Charlie's boss, Rick (Taye Diggs) and Harper's boss Kirsten (Lucy Liu) slowly comes to fruition, Charlie and Harper don't even see themselves falling for each other.
Katie Silberman's screenplay does take some accurate potshots at New Millenium yuppie-dom, but there are just a few too many players on this rom-com chessboard that pull focus from the primary story. Not only do Charlie and Harper have their own romances to extricate themselves from, but Rick has an ex-wife who he still has unresolved feeling for. There's a scene near the beginning of the film where it looks like Charlie and his girlfriend are breaking up, but twenty minutes later, the girlfriend is still clinging onto Charlie and we're wondering if Harper is ever going to fit in.
The other problem here is this film , on the surface, supposed to be about the romance between Charlie and Harper, but we never really buy Charlie and Harper as a star-crossed romance. On the other hand, the manufactured romance between Rick and Kirsten is so much fun; unfortunately, they only have half the screentime that Charlie and Harper have. This film would have been a lot more fun if it had been about Rick and Kirsten, but the point of the story is that the romance is manipulated by their assistants who fall in love, but we never really care about the relationship between the assistants.
Director Claire Scanlon, whose primary directing experience has been in television, doesn't put a lot of imagination into the presentation other than effective on-location photography in Manhattan. Glen Powell, who has been doing supporting roles for awhile, including his memorable John Glenn in Hidden Figures is terrific as Charlie but has zero chemistry with Deutch, who seems to be trying to channel Jennifer Aniston in her interpretation of Harper. I did LOVE Taye DIggs and Lucy Liu and this film could have been great if it had been centered around their characters. Pete Davidson is wasted in a small thankless role as Charlie's gay roommate. The film gives us two romances, but only one really works and the rushing-to-the-airport finale that we saw in every 19890's rom-com was the cinematic straw that broke the camel's back.