‘Set It Up’ Sets Up A Predictable Narrative That Cheats Women [Review]

As Netflix steps up their original programming game, it can be hard to cut through the glut of new films and series emerging every weekend. Some projects, however, still shine with promise. Take “Set It Up,” a “The Parent Trap”-meets-“Horrible Bosses” rom-com written and directed by women (Katie Silberman and Claire Scanlon, respectively) and starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Liu, and Taye Diggs. Given Netflix’s stellar success with female-written rom-com “Ibiza,” it was hard for me not to get my hopes up for another feminist twist on the genre – but unfortunately, while “Set It Up” sets up instances of subversion, it ultimately topples into a predictable mess of romantic noxiousness.

The film opens with a montage of assistants with horrible bosses. Their bosses expect ridiculous things – urine sample deliveries, break-up negotiations – and their assistants are likewise eager to satisfy them, taking their bosses’ calls mid-coitus and soldiering through unwarranted diatribes. This montage peters out once the business day ends, though, leaving behind the unluckiest assistant in the world. Harper (Zoey Deutch) works for Kirsten (Lucy Liu), the editor-in-chief at a nascent sports journalism website. Determined to win Kirsten’s mentorship, Harper works at all hours. She soon learns that she’s not alone, though, when she has a run-in with another assistant in her building. Charlie (Glen Powell), an assistant to business bigwig Rick (Taye Diggs), is a cutthroat guy eager to be as successful as his boss. When he meets the down-to-earth Harper, the two clash (read: he is extremely mean to her for no reason). Of course, their mutual hatred eventually dissolves into sexual tension.

The beleaguered assistants concoct a plan to make their bosses fall in love and loosen up. After an unfortunate elevator ride and some Yankees Stadium shenanigans, the project finally takes off, leaving Harper and Charlie with social lives for the first time in years. Harper starts dating again, while Charlie is finally able to dote on his model girlfriend, Suze (Joan Smalls). Charlie and Harper remain in contact every day, commiserating about assistant life and making sure their bosses’ relationship runs smoothly, and they eventually develop feelings for one another. Things get zany and angsty when both their romance and their bosses’ hit some inevitable roadblocks.

“Set It Up” would be less annoying if it just owned what it was – a mediocre rom-com that encourages women to settle for sub-par men. Instead, the film sows seeds of subversion that never bear substantial fruit. For the bulk of the movie, it’s unclear whether Charlie and Harper will end up as friends or lovers, and the movie oddly does a better job pushing that former narrative. This is likely due in part to the insane lack of chemistry between Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell, the former of whom looks and acts like a real, charming, flawed human being, and the latter of whom looks and acts like a “Westworld” automaton. That’s not for lack of trying on Powell’s part, as he gamely engages in the film’s physical comedy and rattles off one-liners like a Lorelai Gilmore impersonator, but it’s undeniably hard to buy the guy who played John Glenn in “Hidden Figures” as a relatable everyman. Deutch is exceptionally winsome as the grounded Harper, only serving to highlight Powell/Charlie’s unrelatability.

Much like Deutch and Powell are mismatched, their characters are so mind-bogglingly wrong for each other that it’s hard to believe the film shoves them together. Even though the comedy rightfully untangles Kirsten, a nuanced and sympathetic female tyrant, from the out-and-out dickish Rick, it confusingly can’t hold its female and male protagonists to that same standard. “You like because, and you love despite,” Harper’s friend says during a heartfelt speech. Charlie loves Harper despite her mid-20s creative insecurity and unapologetic emotionality. Harper loves Charlie despite his dishonesty, cool-guy negging, and willing enablement of his misogynistic boss. What an excellent basis for a balanced relationship!

Perhaps most infuriatingly, the unhealthy, gendered dynamics in “Set It Up” mirror those expected of real-life heterosexual relationships. The standards for emotional accountability are way higher for Harper than for Charlie. Harper works on all her presented flaws, while audiences are supposed to forgive Charlie his dishonesty and overall prickishness just because he half-dismisses his boss. Ultimately, you’re asked to root for a relationship in which the woman would be doing disproportionate emotional work. Or, as our society might call it, a heterosexual relationship.

I could prattle on about the unrealized potential in “Set It Up,” from Pete Davidson as Charlie’s gay roommate who never even kisses a man to the dubious racial dynamics playing out between Rick, Kirsten, and their underlings. At the end of the day, though, romantic comedies are about selling fantasies to women. Not only does “Set It Up” deny straight female viewers a fantasy in which men genuinely respect women, the film tells straight women that a douchebag is the best they deserve. [D+]