An A-Plus for "Plus One"

Hey there,

I am so pleased to share that I recently watched an excellent rom com!  Let me tell you all about it.

The movie is "Plus One" (2019), starring Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid as Alice and Ben.

In the interest of actually being brief (for once), here are the major relevant factors in my enjoyment of this movie:

The characters feel like actual real people.  This is definitely true of Erskine and Quaid's performances, but also thoroughly permeates each of the supporting characters.  This uniformly high quality of performance, where every character feels genuinely lived-in, allows the audience to relax into a competently acted and therefore authentic-feeling film.

"Plus One" cashes in on this authenticity by giving Alice and Ben--but particularly Alice--free rein to be delightfully weird without veering anywhere near manic pixie dream girl territory, maximizing the enjoyment and realness of the funny moments between two long-time good friends.  I laughed out loud multiple times while also definitely wanting to be Alice's friend.  She seems like fun.  It is even more enriching to this film that Erskine imbues Alice with not only the idiosyncratic humor that is made possible by confidence and comfort in one's own skin, but also moments of deep vulnerability.  Alice isn't so hardened that she doesn't want to be loved, and isn't so weak or silly that we don't take her seriously.  Erskine's performance comprises so much of why "Plus One" works so well.

Also because these characters ring true, the movie sidesteps more predictable and therefore tedious romantic breakthroughs and obstacles, much to my relief.  Alice and Ben's transition from friends to lovers is well-timed and, mercifully, not overly drawn-out, capturing exactly how swiftly relationships can progress from one state to another.  When it's time for the necessary (and, spoilers: thankfully temporary) rift between our heroes, "Plus One" sources the climactic conflict between Ben and Alice from what feel like real people's lived experiences.  Real people do get too in their heads, too perfectionistic, too preoccupied with paternalistically protecting other people's feelings and thereby fragilizing them to the point that they talk themselves out of what their hearts clearly need.  

As Ben, Quaid has a tough job generating this kind of self-limiting angst in a way that is both convincing yet still keeps the audience hoping he'll end up happy.  And thankfully for this movie, he is very successful!

He is aided in this exploit by at least two extremely well-executed scenes: one in which he shares in the raw loneliness and uncertainty of entering one's thirties with no clear prospects for long-term partnership with Jon Bass's Cartelli, and the other in which Ben is lovingly but directly called out on his bullshit by Beck Bennett's Matt.  These scenes, as well as scenes between Ben and Alice throughout the movie, provide a discourse on the nature of romantic love that is predictable of a romcom without being stale or trite.  Through these scenes, this extremely well-executed movie manages over and over again to produce moments that feel like they're being lived by real people pondering some of mid-life's biggest questions.

In addition to all these positives, the central conceit of the movie--that woefully single Ben and Alice team up as each other's plus ones in order to get through a relentless wedding season--adds a fun structure to the film.  Each new set of nuptials, introduced by tonally wide-ranging reception toasts, successfully conveys the wide range of feelings that can come up at weddings: joy, ambivalence, despair, loneliness, and some judginess for extra spice.

All this to say: When romcoms are good, they're really good.  "Plus One" proves this point, with gusto!  I gave it a 5.

(Also lol at being brief.  LOL I SAY.)

{Heart}