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Plus One Tries to Break the Rom-Com Mold

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Plus One has a concept that would easily play out in any of the dozens of romantic comedies of the early 2000s. Two 20-somethings find themselves in the heat of wedding season as all of their friends are getting married and they remain single.

(L-R) Jack Quaid as Ben and Maya Erskine as Alice in the romantic comedy “PLUS ONE,” an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.

Rather than bear through it alone they make a deal to double down on weddings but go together so they don’t get stuck at the singles table.

Instead of formatting this as a polished rom-com the director instead chose to tackle it as an indie starring mostly unknowns and shot in such a raw way that it almost feels like we’re just voyeurs for most of the movie.

Of course, it helps that our two main characters Alice (Maya Erskine) and Ben (Jack Quaid) have insane chemistry together. Watching them talk the audience fully believes that they’ve been friends for years and it feels totally natural. As the movie hops from wedding to wedding they evolve as characters too. A movie with such a basic premise shouldn’t work as well as it does but it works perfectly.

The breakout star of the movie has to be Maya Erskine. Quaid, if anything, plays the straight man to her wild child. Erskine has been in the indie scene for a while but never really had the chance to shine as a star. She was great in Amazon’s Betas but was sidelined in an already short series. With Plus One she’s given the space to let loose and steals the show.

(L-R) Jack Quaid as Ben and Maya Erskine as Alice in the romantic comedy “PLUS ONE,” an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.

The one complaint I have is the one complaint I have about most modern romantic comedies. It falls into the trope that both of the main characters are wildly successful people usually living in California or New York. In one early scene, while Ben struggles with his father’s new marriage and the troubles of being single, he is out on a golf course with his father. It’s a little thing but makes it harder to sympathize with the character when they are living comfortably even in the midst of the rest of the plot.

That complaint isn’t limited to just this movie

(L-R) Maya Erskine as Alice and Jack Quaid as Ben in the romantic comedy “PLUS ONE,” an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.

but applies to most modern romantic comedies.  The sense of luxury removes any sense of realism the movie worked hard to achieve. If the goal to be real then let the characters struggle like regular people, not idealized characters.

That being said, Plus One is well worth the watch if only for the chemistry between Erskine and Quaid. Erskine is a force of nature and hopefully, this film brings her the attention she deserves.

Plus One is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

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Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

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During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

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Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

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DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

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 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

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