‘Plus One’ keeps the rom-com formula fresh — Tribeca review

Plus One follows two best friends — and potential love interests — as they try to survive a dreaded summer full of weddings.

Between subversive mainstream hits like Crazy Rich Asians and Love, Simon and a seemingly never-ending parade of Netflix movies including To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Set it Up, it's clear that the romantic comedy is making its triumphant comeback.

And a new entry in the genre, Plus One — which made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival — is the perfect middle ground between those two groups of films. Directing and screenwriting duo Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer tackle a familiar rom-com story by not treating it like a story at all. They let their characters take the lead — and what characters they are. 

Alice (Maya Erskine) and Ben (Jack Quaid) are decade-long friends who are going through the all too familiar — and dreaded — wedding season single. Alice recently broke up with her long-term boyfriend Nate and Ben has trouble committing. And as anyone that has gone through wedding season stag knows, it sucks. 

So, just like many other rom-coms, the two hatch out a plan. They will be each other's plus-ones to every wedding they have to attend that summer — ten in total. From there, the movie is essentially split into chapters, each beginning with the always cringy toast delivered awkwardly by a maid of honor, best man, or parent.

You know the story from there. The pair who are all too perfect each other — sharp-tongued and brash Alice keeps the endearingly awkward and sensitive Ben grounded — skirt around being in an actual relationship until they finally give into their feelings. Eventually, things go awry putting their happily-ever-after at risk. It's a formula that has worked for decades (including in When Harry Met Sally, which starred Quaid's mother Meg Ryan). 

Where Plus One freshens up the formula is its main characters. Specifically, Erskine's stellar performance — with an assist from the sharp and witty screenplay — is filled quick-fire comedic barbs delivered with precision timing and physical humor that can only be achieved when a director allows their actors to just go with it. And when the dramatic scenes come, she nails them with a powerful intensity without losing what makes the character admirable.

If anything, the movie's biggest fault is focusing the third act on Ben's commitment issues rather than Alice. His story is familiar. Her's is not. Especially since she comes from an Asian-American family presented in a way that we don't often see in film — like any other family. There are small nods to the cultural nuances that I, as a first-generation Asian-American, couldn't help but smile at. This is why diversity in film is important. 

Plus One works best when it's just Ben and Alice squaring off in hilarious and sharp banter that is underscored by the romantic tension between them — a late-night argument about cuddling and Alice giving feedback on Ben's best man speech are highlights. Quaid keeps up with Erskine as his drier delivery matches up perfectly with her harsher tone. They're both basically classic twenty-something archetypes — and that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

It's authentic and, dare I say, relatable. We don't like talking about our feelings so we put on sarcastic armor instead of dealing with it. The problems with Plus One come up when it starts dealing with it, but you have to commend it for trying. Come for the diner tilapia, stay for cemetery sex.  

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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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