Plus One

I've enjoyed to recent resurgence of rom-coms. Partially because I'm a sucker for romance, but mostly because I like the heightened reality these movies live in. It's truly a cinematic world where almost everyone is hilarious or are free to be as ridiculous and over the top as possible. In what other world would someone falling into a wedding cake be a survivable moment? It also helps if you make little tweaks to a familiar formula like Plus One

The Setup

The movie follows Ben and Alice, two longtime friends in the midst of some romantic misfortune. Alice is coming off of a bad breakup due to her boyfriend's infidelity and Ben hasn't been able to find someone he thinks is worth his while. Which makes an upcoming slew of weddings daunting to say the least. But after pairing up at one wedding goes very well, the duo decide to be each other's di-facto wedding dates for the summer.

Plus One works for the same reason a lot of rom-coms work. It has two likable characters with notable foibles and obvious chemistry and the premise is something a little different. It takes the obvious awkwardness of an unromantic partner being your wedding date, a situation where "romance is in the air" and lets these two pop off about every weird thing like a messed up toast because at least one party isn't invested.

And most importantly this movie is funny. Our leads are Happy Death Day's Jack Quaid and PEN15's Maya Erskine and they have immediate tangible chemistry. Not only does this help a rom-com, because you need to believe these two can/will fall in love, but it adds to the fun. 

And we've got an R-rating which means our leads can get drunk, talk frankly about sex, curse up a storm, all in brilliant timed rapid-fire riff sessions. Quaid and Erskine are perfect in these roles and bounce off each other perfectly. The movie has a lot of fun with absurd montages featuring the pair's bad behavior or drunken escapades all of which look drastically different from one another due to changes in venues.

The film's other appealing element is some subtle digs at the rom-com formula. For instance, in most rom-coms we're waiting until the end until these people realize they're in love. But in Plus One they consummate the attraction...and then their hang ups get in the way. Notably Ben.

Ben's issues are painfully obvious from the jump. He was rocked really hard by his parents divorce and now doesn't want to invest in anyone who isn't "perfect." Which makes any relationship difficult and is an impossible standard for anyone to live up to. Likewise his dad is asking him to be his best man for his third marriage and he thinks all of it is a bad idea. 

I like the idea that relationships and marriages aren't sure things, they're like gambles and the movie pushes the idea that you have to give things a chance or work through issues to make sure.

Verdict: Rom-Com Fun

With an R-rating, two great leads, and something to say, Plus One is a cut above its rom-com brethren. 8/10