PLUS ONE (2019)

Starring Maya Erskine, Jack Quaid, Ed Begley Jr.

Directed by Jeff Chan, Andrew Rhymer

Written by Jeff Chan, Andrew Rhymer

Distributed by RLJE Films. 99 minutes. Opening this Friday at Laemmle Monica Film Center and Playhouse 7.

A lot of people don’t like rom-coms. Maybe you are one of those people. I am one of those people, though I’m not exactly a proud member of this taste culture. I’m not a middle school kid shouting “Eww, no way!” at a sleepover when the mere suggestion of Pretty Woman or Notting Hill comes up in the DVD pile, then hurling that sickening DVD behind the sofa to live it’s days in ignominy until the tweens submit to my proposal of Emperor’s New Groove. Okay, I was that kid. But I’ve mellowed!

And these days, I, like any enlightened and curious film essayist, pride myself on open-hearted viewings of all genres. So when a rom-com boasts a fascinating cast (What If), novel adaptation (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), or debut director (Plus One) I’m there. After all, the easy dismissal of rom-coms reeks of presumptuous sexism. The notion that romantic relationships & foibles are a less worthy generic foundation than like, bank heists, is deeply silly. And yet, there remains a problem. I still don’t like many rom-coms. Even the beloved ones.

And while the continued indifference that I and many of my peers experience towards the genre could fill its own essays – What is the cause? Internalized sexism? The stifling heteronormativity of the classics? Hatred for the cool, made-up seeming careers of romantic leads? Did we all experience a traumatic allergy to the Italian countryside? Penis envy? (always throw this into any psychological discussions to hedge your bets) – this distaste will sadly not be resolved in this article. All this is a mere prelude to highlight how pleasant it is to say that that I found Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer’s Tribeca rom-com debut, Plus One, to be a likable and well-constructed journey. They must be do something right (or very wrong?) to appeal to the likes of me!

The first thing Plus One gets very right is its basic character drama. Ben (Jack Quaid) & Alice (Maya Erskine) are 30-ish, single college friends besieged with wedding invites. To stave off the loneliness they plot to be one another’s “plus ones” at every wedding. This is charming enough as a premise, but the smart scripting choice Chan & Rhymer make in the first 15 minutes to bolster the material is this – they clarify that while Ben & Alice are in the same singles boat, they came to be there for profoundly opposite reasons.

Ben is driven by indecision and the feeling that people are too quick to commit. He’s still crushing on old sweethearts, totally oblivious to the rate at which the flames of his fantasies are getting engaged. Alice, meanwhile, is fresh off a committed relationship and feeling righteously sour. She was decisive and loving, yet got cheated on by her ex anyway. These differing attitudes are on display at the first wedding the duo attends, where Ben explores the dating pool and Alice sulks drunkenly. In one playful three-minute take, the camera swoops around the reception as Ben’s game is interrupted by Alice drifting in and out of frame like a boozy bumper car, sometimes high-fiving herself, sometimes complementing the arms of children. If that sentence didn’t clue you in, Maya Erskine is an off-kilter delight throughout.

The pair’s clashing moods continue to be dramatized with skillful narrative economy in the first act, as we see that Alice’s apartment was ready to welcome a partnership that’s now been boxed up, while, in his home life, Ben struggles to accept his father’s third marriage, feeling his dad has always been too eager to start something that has failure built in. So Ben seeks endless dating options while Alice longs for a simple back-scratch buddy but is almost too exhausted to try. When Alice does deign to flirt, her approach is gleefully frank, as when she tells a dude, “You look like someone who would do okay on Survivor.” When he asks “Really? Like you think I’d win?” she comes back with, “You’re good looking enough to get far, but not good-looking enough to win.” And it works. I appreciated her high-concept pick-up lines.

But of course, mid-season quality Survivor man was not to be, as Alice and Ben must explore the growing attraction that comes with shared hotel rooms and the emotional intimacy this proximity invites. You probably have some inkling where this was going, but to stay light on spoilers I’ll say that there’s much sweetness to be found in the well-paced middle act as the friends figure out what they’d like to be amidst the marriages.

If I have one major disappointment with the film, it’s that Plus One is not quite the two-hander it initially appears to be, as Ben becomes the clear lead of the third act, and Alice’s story becomes thinner and more calculated to get Ben to the developments he needs to reach. This isn’t terrible by any means, as Ben’s key emotional subplots with his father (Ed Begley Jr. of St. Elsewhere, Pineapple Express) are given space to unfold, but Erskine’s enthused impersonations and knowing eyebrows are sorely missed. It also doesn’t find as much to say about the wacky world of weddings and the industry and norms around them as I’d hoped. In fact, Ben & Alice’s social world at these weddings can feel oddly small. For instance, they never once run into a friend who knew them both in college, though they’ve been friends since then. It feels like a missed opportunity to offer a reflection on their growth.

Yet, on the whole, Plus One unspools thoughtfully, building from the casual weddings to the ones where the characters feel the most anxiety around: that of Ben’s twice-divorced father and Alice’s younger sister. This creates a sharp ticking clock atmosphere that convincingly brings Ben & Alice’s issues of intimacy and family to a head. Co-directors Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer display a great facility for staying on theme and keeping momentum throughout, even as they luxuriate in diner and poolside banter scenes.

They overcame some of the reservations of a reviewer who’s been known to declare: “Rom- coms? They better be gay or vampires for me to be interested,” and for that I congratulate them. Although this film isn’t my usual, it’s nice. And for lovers of the genre, it should hit the right buttons with an admirable amount of craft. Don’t get me wrong though, if we hang we’re still watching Emperor’s New Groove and that’s final.