There is something immediately interesting about One Night Only. The movie takes a ridiculous but surprisingly clever idea and asks a simple question: what if people were allowed to have sex only one night every year?
That is the world created in One Night Only, the new romantic comedy directed by Will Gluck, the filmmaker behind Easy A and Anyone but You. Monica Barbaro plays Allie, while Callum Turner plays Owen. The two are strangers who meet on the one night of the year when single people are legally allowed to have sex.
On paper, this sounds like the perfect setup for a wild, ridiculous and potentially hilarious romantic comedy. But after watching the movie, my reaction is a little more complicated.
I liked One Night Only, but I don’t think it completely delivers on the potential of its premise.
A Very Strange World
The first thing that caught my attention was the movie’s central idea.
Imagine living in a society where premarital sex is illegal for almost the entire year. Then, for one night, everything changes. Single people are allowed to have sex, and suddenly the entire city becomes obsessed with finding someone.
That is the environment in which Allie and Owen find themselves.
Owen is recently single and doesn’t seem particularly interested in getting caught up in the madness. Allie, on the other hand, is a hopeless romantic who still believes she can find something meaningful. The official synopsis describes them as two lonely strangers who may be among the few people looking for something more than a quick encounter.
And that is where the movie becomes more interesting than its provocative marketing suggests.
This isn’t really a movie about sex.
At its heart, it is about loneliness, relationships, expectations and the ridiculous things people do when they desperately want to connect with someone.
Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner Carry the Movie
For me, the strongest part of One Night Only is the chemistry between Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner.
They don’t feel like two characters who were simply placed together because the script needed a romantic couple. There is an awkwardness to their interactions that makes the relationship feel more believable.
Allie is hopeful but not completely naive, while Owen is more cynical after being hurt by his previous relationship. Their personalities give the story enough conflict without turning either character into an unbearable stereotype.
Callum Turner is particularly good at playing Owen as someone who is trying not to care too much.
And that is important because a romantic comedy like this can easily become predictable. You already know that the two main characters are probably going to develop feelings for each other. The question is whether the journey toward that outcome is entertaining enough.
For the most part, it is.
The Premise Is Better Than the Execution
This is probably my biggest criticism of One Night Only.
The concept is fantastic.
The execution is sometimes surprisingly safe.
A world where sex is banned for almost the entire year should give the filmmakers an enormous opportunity for satire. There is so much they could say about government control, religion, social expectations, dating culture and the way society treats relationships.
Instead, the movie often feels more interested in being a romantic comedy than fully committing to the craziness of its world.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you go into this movie expecting a fun romantic comedy rather than a serious dystopian film, you may have a much better experience.
But I kept thinking about how much more ambitious this movie could have been.
The world itself deserved more attention.
Why did society accept these rules? How did people behave during the other 364 days? What happens to people who refuse to follow the rules? What does dating look like in a society built around such an unusual restriction?
The film gives us some of these ideas, but it doesn’t always go as far as I wanted.
It Is Not as Steamy as You Might Expect
This is another interesting aspect of the movie.
With a premise like this, you might expect One Night Only to be an extremely sexual comedy.
It isn’t.
In fact, one of the major criticisms surrounding the movie has been that its provocative premise doesn’t translate into particularly provocative filmmaking. Some critics have argued that the movie feels unusually restrained considering what its story is supposed to be about.
Personally, I don’t think the movie needed to become explicit to work.
But I do think it needed to be bolder.
There is a difference between being tasteful and being afraid of your own premise.
At times, One Night Only feels like it introduces a crazy idea and then becomes nervous about what that idea could actually allow it to do.
That is a shame because the comedy could have been much sharper.
The Movie Understands Modern Dating
Where the film does work particularly well is in its portrayal of modern dating.
Even though the world of One Night Only is fictional, some of the problems feel very familiar.
People are swiping. People are looking for someone. People are pretending they don’t care. People are trying to find love while simultaneously protecting themselves from getting hurt.
And that is probably why the movie works better as a relationship story than as a dystopian satire.
At some point, the unusual rules of the world become secondary.
You start caring about whether Allie and Owen will actually find each other.
That emotional simplicity is one of the movie’s strengths.
The Side Characters Add Some Fun
The supporting cast also gives the movie some personality.
Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, King Princess, Ziwe, Ben Marshall, Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton are among the names in the ensemble.
There are also some fun celebrity appearances and references that viewers may recognize, including connections to Gluck’s previous Anyone but You.
These moments aren’t necessarily what make the movie work, but they add little surprises along the way.
And honestly, some of the unexpected appearances are more memorable than they have any right to be.
My Biggest Problem With the Movie
My biggest issue is that One Night Only sometimes feels like it doesn’t know whether it wants to be a clever satire or a straightforward romantic comedy.
I wanted more of the first.
The premise could have supported a much sharper movie.
Imagine if the filmmakers had pushed the social rules further. Imagine a city completely transformed by this one-night event. Imagine the absurdity of people spending the entire year preparing for one night, dating specifically for it, breaking up because of it, or becoming obsessed with finding the “perfect” partner.
There was so much comedic material available.
Instead, the film eventually brings its attention back to Allie and Owen.
Again, that isn’t terrible. In fact, it is probably the safest decision for a mainstream romantic comedy.
But it also means the movie occasionally feels smaller than its own idea.
Is One Night Only Worth Watching?
Yes.
I would recommend it, particularly if you enjoy modern romantic comedies with an unusual premise.
Just don’t go into it expecting the next Black Mirror or some deeply provocative dystopian masterpiece.
This is primarily a romantic comedy.
The strange world is there to create obstacles, awkward situations and opportunities for the characters to meet. The real story is about two people trying to find something genuine in a world where everyone seems to be looking for something temporary.
And I think that is ultimately what makes the movie work.
Underneath all the ridiculous rules, dating apps, parties and chaos, One Night Only is asking a fairly normal question:
Can you actually find something real when everyone around you is looking for something temporary?
That question is much more interesting to me than the movie’s provocative premise.
My Final Take
One Night Only is a fun movie with a genuinely clever idea, good chemistry between its leads and enough entertaining moments to make it worth your time.
But I can’t help feeling that it could have been much better.
The premise promises something wild. The finished movie is considerably more conventional.
Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner do a lot of the heavy lifting, and their chemistry gives the story the emotional centre it needs. Will Gluck’s experience with romantic comedies is also obvious in the pacing, humour and relationship dynamics.
But the movie plays it safer than I expected.
For me, that leaves One Night Only somewhere between a good romantic comedy and a missed opportunity.
I enjoyed watching it. I liked the central relationship. I laughed at several moments. And I appreciated the unusual idea.
But when the credits rolled, my biggest thought was:
This could have been so much crazier.
And perhaps that is the strangest thing about One Night Only.
A movie about the one night when everyone is finally allowed to do whatever they want ends up being surprisingly restrained.
My rating: 7/10.
Not a bad movie at all. Just a movie that had the ingredients for something much more memorable.
James
