There’s a big plot hole in One Night Only that is hard to ignore: how do all these desperately single people, allowed just one night a year to butter the biscuit, not have stockpiles of condoms on hand? Other than that, the new Will Gluck rom-com is nearly flawless.
Funny, sexy, and romantic, One Night Only is the rare kind of chick flick I want to watch again. Immediately. The concept alone is head-turning–it’s The Purge, only with sex instead of violence–but I wasn’t expecting the constantly clever screenplay from Travis Braun, whose credits to date are restricted to a bunch of Disney Channel cartoons. Brimming with witty dialogue and long-running jokes, Braun packs the film’s 100-minute runtime with an infectious blend of humor, sex, and charming moments. Early on, I recall thinking, “Why didn’t they release this movie around Valentine’s Day?”
And: “This is from the guy who writes Vampirina?”
It helps that the two stars are scorching hot. Even better: they have terrific chemistry with each other.
Callum Turner is a heartthrob through-and-through: as Owen, he plays a good-looking, well-dressed young man who is so nice that his long-time girlfriend (Maya Hawke) abandons him on “Mandate Day” to sleep with another guy. Meanwhile, Monica Barbaro is intoxicating as Allie, an incredibly talented singer who spends much of the movie nearly spilling out of her dress. Together, they are quite a pairing, the kind of traditional on-screen couple you want to get together even if fate and stubbornness keeps getting in the way. They play off each other splendidly.
One Night Only is a lot of fun, too. Gluck (Anyone But You and Easy A) and Bryan thrust their attractive cast through a whirlwind of sexual misadventures–it’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles only with a bunch of dicks, vaginas, and weird personalities thrown in as obstacles.
The one mystifying part of One Night Only, aside from the Big Plot Hole, is that after all the build up, in a movie that is literally about single people trying to get laid, Gluck doesn’t give us much of a payoff. Two incredibly good-looking stars, in an R-rated movie about sex… and we get the door closed on us? My girlfriend would like to file a complaint.
Gluck could have leaned into Allie’s tendency to daydream more than he does–in the end, these amusing moments feel too few and far between, their singular point to make it possible for the two stars to strip down for their no-pants-dance without actually going there. A few more minutes with 13-year-old rizzer Troy (Mateo Ray) would have been great, too.
Okay, so One Night Only isn’t flawless, but it’s one good sex scene away from that plateau. Consistently funny and sexy to the nines, this is a rom-com that both guys and gals can get into. Just don’t go looking for condoms.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.