45. Plus One; movie review

PLUS ONE
Cert 15
99 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, sex, sex and drug references

I have to admit that I find it difficult to chime with movies such as Plus One because I haven't been single since 1986.
Indeed, since I was an adult, I can only recall going to one wedding on my own.
Of course, like anyone, I can remember a couple of dismal dates and suffered "this-isn't-going-to-work-out" moments but they were all before I was 23 - more than half a lifetime ago.
Anyway, while I couldn't empathise with their situations and they didn't make me laugh out loud, I did take to Jack Quaid and, in particular, Maya Erskine.
They play Ben and Alice - a pair of very good friends who also happen to be single (Ben because he is a commitment-phobe and Alice because she has split up from her long-term boyfriend (Tim Chiou).
They muse on their respective tales of woe at the wedding of mutual friends where they try but fail to hook up with anyone else.
They then realise that they are due to attend a host of forthcoming nuptials and decide to be each other's 'plus one'.
It isn't too taxing to see where this is going - despite encouragement to date other people, sparks begin to fly between them.
As said, while Quaid's character has significant flaws, it is Erskine's which grabs the audience's empathy.
She plays Alice as outwardly confident and fun-loving but still brittle after a bruising break-up.
Meanwhile, both she and Ben are prone to making jackasses of themselves when they have had too much to drink.
Jeff Chan's film is open to criticism because these are two self-consumed, well-off people who spend too much time wallowing in self-pity.
However, I confess to finding it disarming - particular the comedy moments when things go wrong for the pair, individually or together, and the punctuation of the storyline with terrible wedding speeches.
I have made five myself and, while the majority have gone down well, I certainly recognise those tumbleweed moments.

Reasons to watch: Acerbic look at modern relationships
Reasons to avoid: Rich people navel-gazing

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? Twenty per cent of 3,000 people who responded to a survey from dating app Plenty of Fish, said they had hooked up with someone in the wedding party while 16 per cent met their future partner.

The final word. Jeff Chan: "We were watching friends who have been broken up for a long time get back together at weddings; we were watching people get really sad and get drunk and start crying... they were breeding grounds for lots of emotions coming to the surface." Nylon

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