‘One Night Only’ Review: Neither Romantic, Nor Funny
Rom-coms on the big screen are back! And by that, we mean films that star two of the most alluring and infectiously charming actors working today but are devoid of romance, comedy, and, most importantly, interest. Oh, and they’re also strangely reactionary and definitely feel like a byproduct of the Trump 2.0 era than what the masses would call “proper escapism.” It might end up being a box office success, but Will Gluck’s One Night Only is definitely one of the biggest studio disasters to have been released this year, despite an interesting concept on paper.
The plot of One Night Only
Travis Braun’s screenplay imagines an America where premarital sex is legal for only one night in a given year as a parable to the COVID-19 mandates, not-so-subtly discussing the (very) conservative reaction to health measures that were put in place to save lives. Boldly stating “f— the mandates!” or calling an airline company in your film “Omicron Air” is so petty that it ultimately ends up rubbing us the wrong way, especially when both Gluck and Braun do nothing with the concept at hand.
Most of the movie is a cyclical series of vignettes as protagonists Owen (Callum Turner) and Allie (Monica Barbaro) attempt to find a partner to have sex but always stumble upon one another.
At first, there’s little to no attraction. Owen actually throws up his dinner in front of Allie after his girlfriend (Maya Hawke) breaks up with him during an Omakase meal. Things aren’t off to a good start. As they continue to meet, the two learn more about each other but keep making the wrong choices. As a result, the movie runs around in circles until the most predictable conclusion you can imagine.
A dull and rancid rom-com from Will Gluck
The gist of One Night Only is essentially this: Owen and Allie try to hook up with various potential partners. All of them result in a series of comedic hijinks. None of them is funny. Gluck, who directed the decade’s most successful rom-com, Anyone but You, thinks a revolving door of cameos or references to other products equates to comedy, but the laughs are sparse.
There is only one sequence that is worthy of your laughs. It occurs as Allie and Owen steal a $200 Durex condom because of the resulting punchline after so much effort to get the ATM to work and, ultimately, stealing the fixture that holds the contraceptive.
The rest of the movie is a sexless, unfunny affair. It pairs two actors who have proven themselves to work in a wide variety of genres and have an old-school “movie star” appeal and gives them nothing tangible to hold onto. Turner and Barbaro, two actors who feel naturally charismatic on and off-screen, have zero chemistry and, more importantly, play, when paired together.
The film is shot with such lethargic energy, favoring medium shots and awkward close-ups, that the romantic tension at its heart is visually absent.
The most insulting aspect of One Night Only is how the film’s unappealing visuals, which look like a pharmaceutical commercial, are actually part of a major juxtaposition during the year’s worst final shot that attempts to justify Gluck’s low-effort mode of “commercial filmmaking.”
Sure, he’s never truly been a great filmmaker, but there was something infectious about the way he filmed Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s tension in Anyone but You. That is completely absent in a movie that refuses to engage with its stars and political messaging.
Why do we go to watch a romantic comedy? To escape the harsh nightmares of reality, of course! With One Night Only, Gluck and Braun envision a fascist state that has prohibited any form of lovemaking (unless you’re married), except for one night a year, for twelve hours, to draw a parallel with the COVID times, while refusing to engage with anything that’s on screen.
The vibes still feel deeply rancid and reactionary. The overall message that permeates at the end of the picture is that the mandates that were put in place during the pandemic were “totalitarian,” and the people who ultimately followed them were “sheep.”
Maybe this wasn’t Gluck’s intent, but his total lack of skills as a filmmaker comes through more than anything else he’s directed and perverts the actual message. The fact that the bulk of the screenplay keeps the leads apart for most of the movie is also a cardinal mistake, and as soon as they are together, both Allie and Owen are quickly separated.
The political situation could’ve been a backdrop while the protagonists learn to know one another for the entirety of the runtime, until they finally go at it. However, the screenplay clumsily plays with expectations and builds so much tension that it transforms the already pharmaceutical-looking movie into an actual commercial.
Cameos are preferred over trusting the leads; sex is inferred, never shown, and the total lack of actual tension on a day when everyone seemingly performs carnal pleasures feels utterly baffling. It’s a movie that wants to discuss the state of things but refuses to let us even into the mind of a filmmaker with zero vision or aesthetics. A commercial from beginning to end, and, unlike Anyone but You, a highly unappealing one at that.
Final thoughts on One Night Only
Only Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton give One Night Only signs of life, but they’re not in the movie for a considerable amount to make an impact. This is a highly forgettable, painfully boring, and deeply evil romantic comedy that’s neither romantic nor funny. On top of that, it wastes two of the best actors working today.
Still, there’s hope that Turner and Barbaro will bounce back, with the latter starring in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial and the former working with a plethora of exciting filmmakers. Collaborating with Will Gluck feels more like a minor setback for them than anything else, but for the filmmaker, it’s a scathing indictment of his ineptitude.
Also check out: I Want Your Sex Review: Uneven but Delightfully Zany Sex Positive Comedy
