PLAN B (2024)
Starring Jamie Lee, Jon Heder, Tom Berenger, Shannon Elizabeth, Kate Flannery, Vernon Davis, Michael Lombardi, Subhah Agarwal, Daniel K. Isaac, Suzanne Savoy, Danielle Perez, Drew Garrett, Rebecca Street, Abolaji Alexander, Chanel Ali, Anthony Moore, Diane Dehn, Mike Sarcinelli, Vinny Fazio, Michael J. Lyons, Blaise Ffrench and Gabby the Cat.
Screenplay by Brandon Tamburri & Jean S. Monpere.
Directed by Brandon Tamburri.
Distributed by Quiver Distribution. 90 minutes. Not Rated.
Not every movie can be of earth-shaking importance. Some are just sweet and likable trifles that know their place. They will never be up for Oscars or critics’ lists, and yet they are fun and funny and allow you to just forget the problems of the world for about an hour and a half.
Take Plan B, a Philadelphia-based indie romantic comedy. It’s not overly deep, it’s not overly surprising, and yet it’s mostly pretty fun. Since that is all the movie is really trying for, isn’t that enough?
Pretty much, yeah. If you go into Plan B with these kinds of tempered expectations, it’s actually a pleasant surprise. It is a sweet if slightly cheesy romance that won’t change the world but will go down easily enough if you need something to stream some dark night when you’ve got nothing else going on. Yeah, sometimes it feels like a feature-length episode of a sitcom, but sometimes that’s all you need.
Plan B is the story of Piper (Jamie Lee), an influencer (with a side gig as a barista) who focuses on her terrible dating life as a subject. In fact, a publishing house has been showing some interest in letting her author a book.
We meet her in a really bad place – she is extremely drunk and getting thrown out of a bar. She returns home and runs into her neighbor Evan (Jon Heder), a guy she has barely ever noticed but who obviously seems to have a crush on her. She’s drunk and horny and seduces him and wakes up the next morning with some serious regrets.
After that, she mostly tries to avoid him, even though he is sniffing around her apartment, and he is making it clear to her roommate (Subhah Agarwal) he’s interested in Piper – something the roomie knew even before the one nighter. When Piper thinks she is rid of the nerdy guy Piper learns of another serious regret – their night together has gotten her pregnant.
However, after a trial date to tell Evan what happened, she decides she doesn’t think he’d make a good father. (Maybe she saw Napoleon Dynamite?) He has a bad indie rock band and is a bit of a mama’s boy, and worst of all he’s obviously very into her.
Therefore, Piper decides to trick another guy – a kind of obnoxious alpha male customer at the coffee shop who has been flirting with her and she has been blowing off for weeks. However, this guy is handsome and rich, he might make a good father.
And that is about it, really, as Piper gets to know the two guys better, she has to decide who would be a better parent, and a better partner.
80s- and 90s-stars Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie), Tom Berenger (Platoon) and Kate Flannery (The Office) show up for smallish supporting roles. None of them move the story forward all that much, but it’s always fun to see them pop up here and there.
Like I said, Plan B is nothing all that deep, but it is better than its sort of cliched storyline may make you believe. It will never be your favorite comedy, but if you don’t have anything you particularly want to watch, it will make for a good plan B.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: November 5, 2024.
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