"Set It Up" On Netflix Is A Pleasant Movie That Is Completely Carried By The Women In The Cast
SPOILERS AHEAD! You’ve been warned.
I watched Set It Up last night and it made me happy. When it comes to romantic comedies, that’s all I ask for. If my heart is full as the end credits roll, the movie did was a success. Set It Up went even further because I actually clapped when the guy and the girl kiss at the end. I was rooting for them even though I knew it would happen the whole time because that’s how romantic comedies work. It was a good kiss. I liked watching them kiss each other. It made me want to like women again.
The movie definitely had its drawbacks. I wasn’t really rooting for the guy, Glen Powell. I found him robotic and I didn’t like his hair. It needed more grit and grime, a little sweat and some ocean water, maybe some twigs and leaves. It was too floofy, like he’d just washed and conditioned it and then used a blowdryer. I wasn’t invested in him. His hair made me think that the girl could do better.
Speaking of, it certainly didn’t help that I was completely in love with his female co-star, Zoey Deutch. By contrast, she was spectacular. Imperfect yet smart, struggling yet motivated, compassionate but not afraid to stand up for herself, and cute as all hell. She struggles under the iron fist of her successful, domineering boss, Lucy Liu. It’s supposed to serve as a parallel to the guys because Glen suffers under his mercurial boss as well, played by Taye Diggs. The women did it so much better though. Lucy Liu is a dedicated sports journalist while Taye Diggs is a venture capital bigwig and if I had to guess, the movie was written by someone who watches a lot of ESPN but has never read the WSJ in his/her life. Lucy Liu plays the cold, steely workaholic far better than Taye Diggs.
In one telling conversation, Glen offers the following unenlightened reasons for working: “you’re not supposed to like your job; you’re supposed to just suck it up and keep taking the best job where you make the most money.” This writing stunk. It was straight out of the douchebag finance-boy book of quotes. Luckily, Zoey was there to teach him the merits of “doing what you love.
As far as romantic comedies go, “Notting Hill,” “Definitely, Maybe,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “Silver Linings Playbook” made me very happy. Big Cat offered “The Break Up,” which is a funny movie but made me extremely unhappy. I’ll throw “Set It Up” in there as a happiness-inducing movie, even though it doesn’t provide the same glowing fulfillment as the others.