Set It Up arrived right when everyone was mourning the death of the theatrical rom-com. It feels like a throwback to the early 2000s—fast-talking assistants, impossible bosses, and a plot that feels like a corporate-mandated version of The Parent Trap. But while the chemistry between the leads is undeniable, the movie suffers from a weird identity crisis. It wants to be the "cool" rom-com that swears and talks about sex, but it often ends up feeling like a teenager who just learned their first few curse words and is using them in every sentence to prove they're grown up.
If your kids are graduating from Disney Channel movies and looking for something more "mature," this might seem like the logical next step. It isn't. There’s a specific kind of friction here where the plot is juvenile, but the dialogue is R-rated. It’s a mismatch that makes it hard to recommend for a family night, even if your teen thinks they’ve seen it all.
The Parent Trap for the Slack generation
The core of the movie follows Harper and Charlie, two assistants who are so overworked they decide the only way to get their lives back is to make their bosses fall in love. It’s a classic manipulation trope. What’s interesting—and what critics likely latched onto—is how the movie tries to be meta about it. The characters actually talk about how rom-coms work while they’re busy living one.
But there’s a gap between being "clever" and being "funny." While the 92% critic score suggests a modern classic, the 6.5 IMDb rating is a much more accurate reflection of the experience. It’s a movie that’s easy to like in the moment but hard to remember twenty minutes after the credits roll. If you're looking for a deeper breakdown of the content, check out our guide: Set It Up: Why This Glen Powell Rom-Com Isn't for Family Movie Night.
The "Creepy Tim" problem
One of the specific things that separates this from a PG-13 theatrical release is the secondary humor. Characters like "Creepy Tim" and the elevator delivery man represent a pivot toward gross-out humor that feels jarring. It’s not just that the jokes are "adult"; it’s that they’re often mean-spirited or just plain unpleasant.
When a movie leans this hard into "gratuitous" territory, it usually means the writers weren't confident the romance could carry the weight on its own. It’s a shame, because the central friendship between Harper and Charlie is actually the best part. If the movie had stayed in that lane—smart, fast, and slightly cynical—it would be a much easier recommendation. Instead, it’s a distracting mix of sweet sentimentality and crude shock value.
If they liked The Devil Wears Prada
If your teen enjoyed the high-stakes assistant drama of The Devil Wears Prada, they’ll recognize the DNA here. However, that movie managed to be sharp and sophisticated without relying on the specific brand of vulgarity found in Set It Up.
If you decide to let them watch it, be prepared for the conversation to shift from "is that a good boss?" to "why did that guy just do that in an elevator?" It’s a movie that demands you have your finger on the fast-forward button, which kind of defeats the purpose of a breezy rom-com. For most families, this is one to save for your own solo viewing when you just want something colorful on the screen while you're folding laundry.
