+1 starts out feeling like a basic raunchy teen comedy. David (Rhys Wakefield) has just made a terrible mistake that's earned him the ire of his girlfriend Jill (Ashley Hinshaw). Along with his friend Teddy (Logan Miller), he heads to a big party intending to apologize to her and hopefully win her back. The party is made up of all the hallmarks of the genre, depicting a group of young people acting like idiots as they get drunk and hook up. There is music and dancing and the kind of random debauchery that one would expect from a film from the American Pie franchise.
But +1 isn't part of that franchise. It isn't a teen sex comedy at all. It is something far more interesting. Once it gets past establishing the general party situation, it goes into a really strange event that becomes a catalyst for the deconstruction of these tropes. The film doesn't quite have the follow through to really make the most out of its concept, but it goes into a couple of appealingly dark corners, unearthing the psychosis that may lie just beneath the awkward teen hero.
The event in question is best left undisclosed. Suffice it to say that it involves a smattering of science fiction, though the film isn't at all interested in explaining how any of it happens. It is far more interested in the choices that a few characters make following the discovery of the strangeness. The film gives three outsider characters the ability to review their choices that night. How they react provides the meat of the story, these characters offering different approaches to the opportunities that this weird situation has provided.
The different story threads offer up varying levels of returns. David's story features some awful dialogue, but it's also the most interesting. It's the one that follows the implications of its concept to its fullest potential, working off the deranged logic of a hormonal teenager who thinks he's in love. The movie exploits the darkness inherent in that idea to an impressive extent. It is a often a fine line between adolescent affection and adolescent obsession. Rhys Wakefield sometimes has trouble getting his words out, but he thrives when things get grimly physical.
The rest of the story doesn't quite hold as much thematic interest. They feel like stray ideas meant to fill out the runtime. There are still a couple of fun scenes here and there, but it does feel like the film sometimes bails on its ideas before they come to fruition. Solid production work does justice to the ambitions of the concept. The film doesn't get too fancy, mainly relying on clever camera work to get the effect across.
+1 doesn't quite go far enough as a whole, but it's worth a look. It at least provides a novel concept that allows for a kind of introspection that's rarely available in mainstream films starring young people. The only real problem is that the film spreads itself a little thin. It really only gets to flesh out one of its plot threads. The others feel a bit extraneous, padding out the runtime with the easy visual appeal of violence and sexuality. The film could have taken a higher road in exploring all these ideas. But when it does hit on something, when it finds the odd convergence between concept and theme, the movie becomes far more intriguing.Ratings:3.0
My Rating:
