Plus One (2019)

By Peter McGinn

Okay, to start with, my wife gave up on this movie fifteen minutes into it, and to some extent I understood why. She did not like the Alice character or the interplay between her and Ben. I wasn't overly impressed with them either at first, but I saw just enough to want to keep going. So I did, and I am glad I did. As the two lead characters warmed to each other more, I started appreciating their wit, their playful banter and so on. There were still a few cringe-worthy moments, and the wedding clips weren't as funny as they could have been - I write novels in my spare time and I was thinking, let me take a crack at writing those clips - but overall I thought the second half of the movie saved the day. The last thing I wondered was whether there would be a grand gesture at the end of the movie, as there often is in romantic comedies to seal the romance, usually something that flashes back to the beginning. And what happened was - well, I will let you find out for yourself as a reward for sticking through the weaker moments of an ultimately heartwarming movie. Ultimately, if you don't like rom-coms, this won't change your mind, so save yourself the irritation. If you don't mind fairly short doses of fluff, give it a try.