Plus One

A couple of single friends (Jack Quaid, Maya Erskine) are sick of going to endless weddings alone, so decide to be each other’s plus-ones for a summer.

A pretty standard issue odd-couple rom-com, but its episodic structure and incredible on-screen chemistry put it up above many of its peers.

I wouldn’t say it’s a subversive film, but it does go against the formula a little by having the two leads like (perhaps even love) each other from the very start. And when they finally hook up, they don’t immediately recoil from each other. The connection between the two is so strong that when the shit hits the fan, it feels real in that awkward cant-think-of-what-to-say way.

The last 10 minutes are a bit of a Friday afternoon job but it’s always tricky wrapping these things up when the film is emotionally resolved, and the audience is waiting for the credits to roll.

This was a chance encounter of a film for me, I’d never heard of it and it seems like it was sadly overlooked at the time. Even though I’m seven years late I’m glad I saw it.