Glen Powell’s Best Rom-Com Is ANOTHER Netflix Movie Where He Plays a Lovable Dork
We saw the light six years ago ...
Glen Powell is the hit man du jour. Following the commercial success of his rom-com Anyone but You alongside Sydney Sweeney, his latest release on Netflix, the action comedy Hit Man that he co-wrote with director Richard Linklater is getting a lot of love, memes, and rave reviews.
That, coupled with Powell’s charm both on and offscreen, has him swiftly being labeled the rom-com king that we romance-thirsty subjects deserve. But wait just a minute. What if I told you that Glen Powell’s best rom-com is actually another Netflix film where he plays a dork?
In both Hit Man and Anyone but You, Powell’s character is a dorky dude who makes a deal with a woman, learns some life lessons, gets increasingly hotter in the process, and finally finds love. But before there were these two, there was Set It Up, the 2018 Netflix romantic comedy directed by Claire Scanlon and written by Katie Silberman, pairing Powell with Zoey Deutch. And if you haven’t watched this film, friend, you’re missing out!
In Set It Up, Glen Powell and Zoey Deutch play Charlie and Harper, two frustrated assistants with offices in the same building in New York. After a chance meeting leads them to reveal how their bosses are ruining their peace, the two hatch a plan to “Cyrano” (set up) their difficult bosses (Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu) in a relationship. When the bosses are happy and otherwise distracted, their own lives get a little easier. Of course, the plan works, and Harper and Charlie get closer, too, but something happens that Harper’s conscience cannot overlook, and … I won’t spoil the rest.
Set It Up is as relatable as it is funny, from the bosses’ unreasonable demands and how long work hours can ruin your love life to Harper’s struggles to write while working a full-time job. Unlike Anyone but You, which looks pretty and boasts a hot cast but falls a bit short on the chemistry between Sweeney and Powell, Set It Up has oodles of easy and adorable chemistry between Deutch and Powell that instantly endears them to you. There’s one scene in particular—call it the “Viggo hurting his toe kicking the helmet in LOTR” equivalent, if you will—that comes up anytime there’s conversation around Set It Up: the pizza scene.
Do you see it? Harper’s cutesy enthusiasm for her pizza, Charlie falling for her while she’s eating, and the line, “Roll it with the crust outside, I’m a lady …” This scene is easily one of the best rom-com moments in recent years! Rom-com lovers live for the banter between the leads, and this film has plenty of it.
While Set It Up might not have Powell dressed up as Patrick Bateman, Tilda Swinton, or Russian Snape, you get fun cameos from Stephanie Hsu (blink and you’ll miss it during the opening credits), Pete Davidson, and Titus Burgess. And if you’re missing the psychology lesson from Hit Man, let me tell you, Set It Up has plenty of quotable dialogue and gave me one of the best pieces of relationship advice.
In the scene before the pizza scene, Harper and Charlie are attending Harper’s best friend Becca’s engagement party, and in her speech, Becca drops some wisdom: “We like because and we love despite.” Words to live by!
The most important mark of a rom-com for the ages is how often can you go back to it. Set It Up has that rewatch value that I haven’t found in many of the recent rom-coms, and for that, I believe it’s time it got its flowers! One thing is for sure: We need more Glen Powell rom-coms. Can someone please … set it up?
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