Happy Thursday! Just one more day until the weekend!
The last couple days I’ve recommended some heavy movies, so let’s go with something lighter. I can’t talk about movies set in New York City 🗽🏙 without suggesting a good old fashioned romantic comedy. I mean, the quintessential romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally is just a series of run-ins around the city. So, for day 4, I’m recommending a movie that owes itself to that classic.
Set it Up
STREAMING ON NETFLIX
What’s it about: In a play on the classic The Parent Trap formula, Set it Up follows two burnt out assistants (Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell) who hatch a plan to get their respective bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) off their backs by getting them to fall in love with each other. Of course, that takes a lot of time, energy, and dollar slices of pizza — all the necessary elements to fall in love.
Why it’s great: I think anyone that lived through the 80s, 90s and early aughts has a soft spot for that perfect romantic comedy. The kind that has perfect one-liners that you can work into everyday life and characters who live lives that you could only aspire to in unrealistically large apartments and scenes that make your heart flutter at the thought of them happening in real life.
Set it Up mines those tropes and makes me feel nostalgic for those breezy rom-coms. And while it hits a lot of those familiar plot beats, the movie surpasses other contemporary rom-coms because director Claire Scanlon and the charming leads have a great sense of comedic timing and the propensity for subtle, but effective physical comedy. It's one of those movies that you'll want to come back to over and over again.
The key players:
🎬 Claire Scanlon
🖋 Katie Silberman
🎵 Laura Karpman
🎭 Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Taye Diggs, Lucy Liu
The details: ⏳ 105 minutes // 🇺🇸 U.S. // 📝 My full review // 📺 Trailer
Fun fact: Reese Witherspoon tweeted after watching the movie, “watched a GREAT romantic comedy Set it Up this weekend ... which made me think .. why aren’t there more romantic movies.” Join the club, Reese.
Don’t have Netflix? Set it Up is a Netflix exclusive, so it isn’t available to watch anywhere else. Sorry, kids.
In movie news:
💤 Oscar nominee Rooney Mara is joining Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett in Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley — distributed by 20th Century Fox.
My take: The movie is del Toro’s first feature after winning Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water (my review). It’s also a reunion for Blanchett and Mara, who were both nominated for Carol in 2015. That’s a lot of Oscar history for one movie. Del Toro could have another contender on his hands.
🌸 After a short theatrical run, the 171 minute director’s cut of Ari Aster’s Midsommar (my review) will be available *exclusively* on Apple TV.
My take: Mixed. I’m glad the director’s cut is being released for home video, but not making it available to buy anywhere else — or in any other form — feels exclusionary. Then again, you’re talking to a physical media stan.
One more day of the week and one more day of New York movies left!
See you tomorrow,
Karl (@karl_delo)