When Harry Met Sally (1989) is one of my all time favorite movies. With witty banter, verbal sparring, friends to lovers rom-com trope, male lead's issues of commitment, irresistible charm from the female lead, what's not to like? Plus One (2019) hits every one of those boxes on its way to becoming an underrated hit thanks to Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid.
Alice Mori and Ben King have been friends since college. Years later, Alice is on the mend from a break up and Ben has been single longer than he’d prefer. Now, it’s wedding season. They need each other’s help to avoid the pressure of riding solo for the endless displays of happily-ever-afters and fairytale love on their own as each others’ plus one.
As we see Alice and Ben figure their own feelings out for each other, Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer made a really interesting move to intersect the weddings and passage of time by playing clips of the various first man and maid of honor speeches. Extremely similar to Rob Reiner’s decision to use interviews of couples in WHMS. For the viewer, I feel like both of these decisions anchor the narrative in the naïveté of love and marriage that both eventual couples were trying to avoid.
If the speeches were the anchors, the dialogue full of banter acted as the sails catching the wind to allow the characters to find their way through whatever waters were ahead. Quaid’s charisma was there but his character was a bit too similar to every character I’ve ever seen him as. Erskine, however, completely stole the show and gave one of the most natural performances I have seen in a long time: brash, assertive, vulnerable, and incredibly Alice Mori.
There’s so much in the short run time. There are moments of both characters going through the motions in their own time and with each other. There’s a fantastic irony in how it’s for better and for worse. The kicker that elevates Plus One is that Alice knew Ben better than he knew her and himself.
The dialogue between Alice's tough exterior and her moments of emotionally vulnerability sets up Erskine to repeatedly step into the spotlight. Erskine's line delivery was as brilliant as her physical acting where she drunkenly dances to slouching impatiently on a couch.
Alice: You’re always looking for love, and I’m here. Standing right in front of you.
We know that Alice has gone through pain. The audience sees that through her emotions, actions taken and actions not taken. We know that Ben avoids it through the same elements and unresolved grief about his parents' divorce. In doing so, that sets up the big rom-com conflict. It’s rather more realistic than normal for a rom com, isn’t it?
Ben: Why is everybody so in love? And just so, so sure?
Matt (Beck Bennet): Dude, they’re not.
…
Ben: How can I know what’s best, though?
Matt: You won’t.
Ben: S**t. I f***ed up.
I truly loved this flick. It’s not an easy thing to balance how heavy and difficult the feelings explored are with what we think we know about ourselves. It’s also not every day that someone comes along who cares enough to deal with and stick through our own lowest moments. Plus One delivers because these are realistic moments - honestly the most fantastical element might be how intense their definition of "wedding season" is. For the hopeless romantics, Plus One was a swift kick back to a reality to have hope in. But hey. That’s the magic of movies.
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