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''Plus One'' is a 2019 American
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film, written, directed, and produced by Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer. Starring
Maya Erskine Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...
,
Jack Quaid Jack Henry Quaid (born April 24, 1992) is an American actor. He made his acting debut with a minor role in the dystopian film ''The Hunger Games'' (2012) before his breakout role as vigilante Hughie Campbell in the Amazon Prime Video superhero se ...
,
Beck Bennett Christopher Beck Bennett (born October 1, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' for eight seasons (2013–2021). Before then, he performed in AT&T "It's Not Complicated" commercials in ...
,
Rosalind Chao Rosalind Chao (; born September 23, 1957) is an American actress. Chao's best-known roles have been Soon-Lee Klinger in the mid-1980s CBS show ''AfterMASH'', Rose Hsu Jordan in the 1993 movie ''The Joy Luck Club (film), The Joy Luck Club'', the ...
,
Perrey Reeves Perrey Reeves (born ) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her recurring role as Melissa Gold on the television series ''Entourage'' from 2004 to 2011 and Frank the Tank's wife in the 2003 comedy '' Old School''. E ...
, and Ed Begley Jr., the film follows two longtime single friends who agree to be each other's plus one at every wedding they're invited to. The film premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
on April 28, 2019, where it won the Narrative Audience Award, and was released on June 14, 2019 by
RLJE Films RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...
. It received generally positive reviews from critics.


Plot

Ben King and Alice Mori, close friends since college and now in their late twenties, attend a wedding where Alice, having recently broke up with her boyfriend Nate due to his infidelity, overindulges in alcohol and Ben helps take care of her. Ben is fixated on former classmate Jess Ramsey and hopes to establish a romantic relationship with her, but embarrasses himself when she rebuffs his attempt to kiss her because she is engaged. At the hotel, Ben and Alice both vent their frustrations of having to navigate wedding season alone, and decide to help one another by becoming each other's dates; with Alice also agreeing to help Ben meet women. Alice uses blunt approaches to introduce Ben to various single women at the weddings, one of which culminates in Ben having a
one-night-stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...
. However, Ben remains fixated on finding the "perfect" relationship versus casual flings. Ben goes
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
ing with his dad, Chuck, and learns he has asked his much younger girlfriend Gina to marry him and asks Ben to be his
best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...
. Citing Chuck's two previous failed marriages, Ben informs his dad to take some time to think about his decision. After another wedding, Ben and Alice are forced to share a hotel bed and Alice attempts to cuddle with Ben, making him uncomfortable. The pair attend a wedding for one of Ben's family members, and he and Alice nearly drunkenly kiss in the pool after a deep conversation. They miss the shuttle bus back to the hotel and are forced to walk, eventually cutting through a cemetery which Alice attempts to run through and she trips. As Ben helps her with the cut on her arm, they embrace and have sex. The pair awkwardly have breakfast the following day, and decide not to discuss the previous night. A number of weeks later, Ben and Alice travel to
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
for a destination wedding and once again embrace their mutual attraction for one another. The pair become romantically involved, and Ben also gains the approval of Alice's parents after helping to make her sister's wedding a success. Alice learns that Ben has been asked to be his dad's best man, and expresses concern as to why he didn't tell her or hasn't accepted. Ben expresses his frustrations with his dad, explaining he still feels resentment from his parents' divorce. Alice tells him that her parents remained together for her and her sister, despite clear displeasure for each other. As Ben and Alice prepare to attend another wedding, they get into an argument over Alice forgetting the wedding gift and her nonchalant attitude frustrates Ben. At the wedding, Ben tells her he doesn't see their relationship going any further and they break up. Ben attends the remainder of weddings alone, and makes a drunken fool of himself prompting his friend Matt to intervene. After some discussion, Ben realizes his mistake and shows up a wedding Alice previously invited him to, finding that she is back with Nate. He attempts to explain himself to Alice and professes his love, but she rebukes him. Later that night, Chuck calls Ben for a ride after taking
acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...
during his
bachelor party A bachelor party (in the United States and sometimes in Canada), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia), is a party held/arranged by th ...
, and the pair reconcile with Ben finally agreeing to be his dad's best man. Ben returns home and finds Alice waiting for him. The couple profess their love and reconvene their relationship. At Chuck's wedding, Ben gives a heartfelt speech to his dad and his new
stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Ste ...
Gina, while Alice joyously listens on in approval.


Cast


Production

In November 2017, it was announced
Maya Erskine Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...
,
Jack Quaid Jack Henry Quaid (born April 24, 1992) is an American actor. He made his acting debut with a minor role in the dystopian film ''The Hunger Games'' (2012) before his breakout role as vigilante Hughie Campbell in the Amazon Prime Video superhero se ...
, Ed Begley Jr.,
Finn Wittrock Peter L. Wittrock Jr. (born October 28, 1984), known as Finn Wittrock, is an US actor and screenwriter who began his career in guest roles on several television shows. He made his film debut in 2004, in '' Halloweentown High'' before returning to ...
,
Rosalind Chao Rosalind Chao (; born September 23, 1957) is an American actress. Chao's best-known roles have been Soon-Lee Klinger in the mid-1980s CBS show ''AfterMASH'', Rose Hsu Jordan in the 1993 movie ''The Joy Luck Club (film), The Joy Luck Club'', the ...
,
Perrey Reeves Perrey Reeves (born ) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her recurring role as Melissa Gold on the television series ''Entourage'' from 2004 to 2011 and Frank the Tank's wife in the 2003 comedy '' Old School''. E ...
,
Beck Bennett Christopher Beck Bennett (born October 1, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' for eight seasons (2013–2021). Before then, he performed in AT&T "It's Not Complicated" commercials in ...
and Jon Bass had joined the cast of the film, with Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer directing from a screenplay they wrote.
Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as ...
, Nicholas Weinstock and Jackie Cohn served as executive producers under their
Red Hour Films Red Hour Productions or Red Hour Films is an American film production company operated by actor Ben Stiller and formerly with producer Stuart Cornfeld. In the past, Red Hour has had first-look deals with New Line Cinema, and currently has an exc ...
banner.
Stu Pollard Stu Pollard (born January 26, 1967) is an American film producer, writer and director. His credits include ''Nice Guys Sleep Alone'' and ''Keep Your Distance'', as well as the 2019 survival thriller '' Rust Creek''. Early life and education Pol ...
and Harris McCabe from Lunacy Productions also executive produced. James Short and John Short with Inwood Road Films also served as executive producers.


Release

The film had its world premiere at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
on April 28, 2019 and went on to win the Narrative Audience Award. Prior to,
RLJE Films RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released in select theaters, VOD and Digital HD on June 14, 2019. It was released on Hulu on August 6, 2019.


Reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Plus One'' reinvigorates the rom-com with an entertaining outing elevated by well-matched leads and a story that embraces and transcends genre clichés." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Nick Schager of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' praised Maya Erskine's performance and called the film one "genre fans won’t want to miss". Ben Kenigsberg of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that "Every minute Erskine is not on a screen is a minute wasted", while Jon Frosch of ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' called ''Plus One'' a "modest rom-com that coasts on charm and chemistry".
Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and suggested that " 'Plus One'' needsbigger laughs and more of the big, ironic comedy that Erskine can clearly deliver". Wendy Ide of ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' gave ''Plus One'' a 4 out of 5 rating, saying that the film is "a predictable odd-couple romance" which is "given extra zest by the fantastic on-screen chemistry of its leads".


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 7645122 American romantic comedy films 2019 independent films 2019 romantic comedy films Red Hour Productions films Films produced by Ben Stiller 2010s English-language films 2010s American films