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One of the hallmarks of young adulthood comes from trying to figure out who you were, who you are, and who you’re going to become. It’s fertile ground for films of all genres, from drama to comedy to horror. The biggest problem facing +1 is that, like its subjects, it can’t seem to make up its mind on what exactly it is or wants to be.
The film’s first third aims directly in the teen sex comedy direction, settling in at the kind of giant and ridiculously over-the-top bacchanalian house party made popular by films like Project X. The four protagonists stand out from the rest by having at least partially developed reasons for being there. David (Rhys Wakefield) wants to find his ex-girlfriend, Jill (Ashley Hinshaw), and beg forgiveness after an indiscretion, Allison (Suzanne Dengal & Colleen Dengal) is looking to feel a little less alone, and Teddy (Logan Miller) just really wants to get laid.
Amid the lights, loud music, and debauchery, the film slowly shifts into a kind of science-fiction thriller as partygoers begin to encounter duplicates of themselves and instances of déjà vu. As the confused main trio tries to make sense of what’s going on, events continue to escalate, and +1 makes a final lurch into horror before everything wraps up.
At this point, it would be a pleasant surprise if filmmakers would show a little restraint with their party planning. While the spare-no-expense setting gives director Dennis Iliadis some nice visuals to work with, the depiction of nearly all secondary characters as drunken, narcissistic, and sexist idiots (seriously, the host even hires a nude woman to serve as a sushi tray) undercuts the tension he tries to build as the film shifts gears. If the film had simply stuck to its early comedy or later horror tones, it would have been entirely forgettable fare for those who already know what they like from those particular genres.
However, Iliadis clearly has greater ambitions for this project, as several character interactions provoked by the duplicate situation are genuinely moving. Rhys Wakefield’s David grounds the film throughout much of the running, alternating between heartbroken and genuinely creepy. It’s too bad that the film never quite decides what to do with him, and the overall tonal uncertainty just makes it worse. Ashley Hinshaw gets to play the greatest divergence between duplicates, yet she’s able to make them flipsides of the same person. The film’s greatest success comes from perpetual loner Allison literally having to find a place where she can make peace with herself, and that scene is wonderfully staged with the identical Dengal twins.
There’s definitely talent on display in +1, but all too often it gets swallowed up by the noise and crass behavior. That’s a shame—because with a little more time, a little more guidance, and some serious hormonal control, it could have grown up into a very decent film.
