PLUS ONE (+1) (2013)

Studio:       IFC Midnight
Director:    Dennis Iliadis
Writer:       Bill Gullo, Dennis Iliadis
Producer:  Tom Perell, Dennis Iliadis
Stars:     Rhys Wakefield, Logan Miller, Ashley Hinshaw, Natalie Hall, Rohan Kymal, Suzanne McCloskey, Adam David Thompson, Colleen Dengel

Review Score:

---

Summary:

A college party spirals into chaos when an atmospheric anomaly creates an echo in time that gives everyone doppelgangers.

---

Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

David surprises his girlfriend Jill by visiting her at a collegiate fencing tournament. Thinking that it is his girlfriend, David accidentally gains the attention of Jill’s opponent after the match and they kiss unexpectedly. Jill witnesses the kiss and runs away.

David continues pining for Jill after their breakup. David and his friend Teddy go to an extravagant party at their friend Angad’s parents’ house. There, they meet up with their friend Allison. A glowing rock from outer space crash lands and fries nearby power lines. Angad gets into a fight with Kyle, a sketchy drug dealer who is angry about not being invited to the party. David looks for Jill after seeing her arrive with another guy named Steve. Teddy hooks up with a girl named Melanie and she invites him to meet her in an upstairs bedroom. Allison is insulted by a prank that makes fun of her.

A nearby power line erupts in sparks and Kyle ends up with a doppelganger. His girlfriend Connie runs away in fear.

Angad moves the partygoers to a stage outside. Teddy has sex with Melanie. David finds Jill and tries to apologize, but he makes things worse. The power fluctuates at the house. When it returns, a doppelganger of Melanie enters the bedroom with Teddy. David watches from a window as one of the Kyles shoots and kills the other in confusion. Teddy runs from the bedroom when the two Melanies confront each other. Allison sees her own double. David, Teddy, and Allison regroup and see that an echo of the previous party is taking place inside the house while the original party continues outside. There is now two of everyone on two concurrent timelines, but everyone outside is oblivious.

David decides to use the opportunity to try again with Jill. He finds his own doppelganger and knocks him unconscious. David uses his knowledge of Jill’s responses from his first apology attempt to make his second attempt work. They reconcile.

Teddy and Melanie confront their own doubles. Teddy realizes that with each power fluctuation, the timeline for the doubles moves closer to their own. He worries what may happen if the two timelines collide or if the two groups meet each other. Allison meets her own double and the two begin conversing.

Teddy stops the party outside and warns everyone that they need to move to the pool house before the second party moves outside. Enough people have noticed strange occurrences that everyone follows the instruction. When the lights turn on again, the second party moves outside and everyone in the pool house realizes that they all have doubles. Fearing an “us or them” scenario, panicked partygoers decide to kill their doppelgangers. Several of them do.

The previous Jill goes off to have sex with Steve. David follows and kills her with a knife. The doubles meet the originals inside the pool house and a chaotic brawl ensues. Allison and her double fall for each other.

The power fluctuates once more and the two timelines merge. No one is exactly sure what happened to the doubles. David and the new Jill are shown kissing.

---

Review:

In a parallel universe, which is an apt analogy given the subject matter, “Plus One” could have been one of those straight-to-video “American Pie” sequels.  The script starts from the basic building blocks required for the type of sex comedy that predictably morphs into heartfelt romance by story’s end.

After a momentary indiscretion ends their two-year romance, average guy David sets out to win back the heart of sweet girl Jill.  Playing the role of wisecracking sidekick is David’s sex-crazed college buddy Teddy, whose singular goal for the evening is just to get laid.  Shy girl Allison completes their trio.  She masks inner insecurity with an outer shell of acerbic wit and false confidence.  What is the milieu for Teddy and David to make their wishes come true?  Mutual chum Agnar is fulfilling his own dream by using his parents’ lavish pad for hosting an “epic” party he hopes will make his name synonymous with “legendary.”

How many college teen romps have started with a similar premise?  Cast Jonah Hill as the curly-haired horndog and Aziz Ansari as the master of ceremonies and it could be an entirely different movie.

The ingenuity of this setup is that it grounds the science fiction of “+1” in an ordinary setting before the extraordinary event takes place.  Even with the phenomenon at the story’s center coming with its own set of questions, the movie does not have a complicated set of rules to check off in order to be immersed in understanding its world.  This familiar environment grants some plausibility to what takes place next.  For one thing, “+1” is immediately off the hook for having a cast slow to notice the unexplainable events taking place.  With flaming tennis balls, exotic dancers, and innumerable staples of the most outrageous parties imaginable surrounding everyone, they are already knee-deep in bizarre behavior.

“+1” is partly difficult to describe without revealing too much of the unfolding mystery on hand.  The story is not unlike a mash-up of at least a half-dozen other thrillers including “The Langoliers,” “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” and even the Michael Keaton comedy “Multiplicity.

A rock from space crashes to Earth and fries nearby power lines with a strange surge of fiery energy.  Now, every time the power goes out and comes back on at Agnar’s party, an echo of the night’s previous events repeat themselves, complete with flesh and blood doppelgangers for everyone involved.  The original timeline still exists, too.  With each successive power fluctuation, the two realities come closer together.

Thanks to a massive estate that keeps the festivities moving from one end to the other, most of the partygoers are oblivious to the doubles occupying the space where they were earlier.  David, Teddy, Allison, and a few others clue in first to the unbelievable events.  Teddy has seen enough movies to know that meeting your double is probably a bad thing, even if he is not entirely sure why.  He knows he has to stop the timelines from meeting.  David has other ideas.  He decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth and uses the opportunity to pull a “Groundhog Day” and cheat his way through a second chance apology to Jill.

Meteorite and power lines are all the explanation there is for the event taking place.  There are going to be those viewers who leave the film in frustration as they struggle for answers the film has no interest in giving.  “+1” is not about explaining any pseudo-science behind its plot device.  This is a story about how real people would react if such an unthinkable situation ever took place.

With the way that the core characters immediately look for solutions to change or take advantage of their predicament instead of searching for the why behind it, “+1” barrels straight ahead with a snappy pace focused on story.  The key players adapt quickly.  They may not know what is happening, but they immediately accept that it is somehow dangerous.

Certain conclusions are settled on with record speed, but the script can be forgiven for a few shortcuts because it aims to get to the point in a runtime just over 90 minutes.  In fact, there might be more fat to trim.  As much ground as is covered so rapidly, there are moments where the camera lingers long on confused expressions as characters slowly walk about and gather visual information.

“+1” presents a fearless approach to storytelling.  Some will be off put by the take it or leave it attitude of the premise.  Many corners are turned that fail to add up in the big picture, but the overall effect is one of a movie that has a unique take on venerable sci-fi ideas about reliving the past and meeting one’s clone.

Review Score:  80

---