One Night Only: An Alternate Rom-Com Reality

This might be the healthiest, most livable dystopia in cinema history. It is like The Purge for premarital sex. For twelve hours, one night each year, everywhere in America is like Fort Lauderdale during Spring break. Again, like The Purge, you also must have “protection.” Yet, weirdly, the two main characters can’t help looking for something more than sex. It seems pretty obvious they are perfect for each other, but it will probably take them most of the film to figure that out in Will Gluck’s One Night Only, which opens Friday in theaters.

Poor Owen. His longtime girlfriend Malika just dumped him, temporarily, because she figures she can get her lust for their neighbor out of her system tonight and then Owen will take her back tomorrow. He takes it really hard. Consequently, the first time he meets Allie, it is decidedly not cute. Yet, their paths keep crossing as they attempt to find their annual hook-up, all of whom start out looking hot and promising, but turn out to be weirdos.

Yes, apparently America took a moralistic turn that a lot single hipsters do not approve of. However, Gluck and Travis Braun show shrewd restraint with respect to the political particulars. They largely avoid partisan finger-pointing and ideological analogies. Plus, the big punchline always hiding in plain sight is the truth about Allie and Owen, who are both inclined to wait—or at least take things slow.

Indeed, One Night Only is bizarrely chaste for an ostensibly sex-driven comedy, but that is part of its appeal. It also helps that both Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro have so much charm, they could export a few pallets-worth without missing any. They look their parts, while flirting and bantering with effortless screen charisma. This is exactly the sort of film that will have single viewers rooting for romance and commitment.

Also, Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton get a number of surprisingly naughty laughs as Owen’s mom, Linda and her boyfriend, Rick. Plus, there are clever “cameos” from the co-stars of Gluck’s previous movie, as social network profile photos. Still, Gluck sometimes lets their misadventures run somewhat longer than ideal, especially during the midsection. This film could have easily been fifteen minutes shorter and stronger.

Nonetheless, it cleverly leans into its romantic themes, amid its lust-fueled alternate reality. It is ultimately quite endearing and maybe even accidentally validates the sexually conservative attitudes that it supposedly mocks. Frankly, that is part of why it is considerably more interesting than the average rom-com. The chemistry shared by Turner and Barbaro also elevates it above the pack. Recommended for its defiant romanticism, One Night Only opens in theaters nationwide this Friday (8/7).