One Night Only Review
Before sitting in to watch One Night Only, I personally tried to get a better idea of what I was getting into. Most of what I knew came from social media, where most people were describing this as “The Purge, but with sex.” It was a simple concept, much like Old and how audiences were calling it by the movie with “the beach that makes you old.” On the surface, it seems like One Night Only is a traditional will-they-won’t-they romance film with some funny little gags. However, what director Will Gluck and company do with One Night Only is give audiences some over-the-top, raunchy jokes, some interesting commentary, and several cute romanticisms.
One Night Only follows two romantics, Allie (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner), who are searching for real love. However, in this world, pre-martial sex has been outlawed by the government, instead only allowing singles to have sex for one night. Despite their initial accidental encounter, Allie and Owen gradually find themselves encountering each other throughout the night with their antics. From dealing with unusual hook-ups to chaotic situations that may be too much to deal with, these two are fated to figure out whether their feelings for each other are actually real.
If you really wanted to know how dirty One Night Only got, look no further than the first ten minutes. Once that timer hits zero, every extra around Allie and Owen hits the town and literally goes wild on each other. To be fair, it isn’t that overly explicit, but it still is insane to just watch all of this happen within the first few minutes. Fortunately, the film also takes some time to get viewers nicely acquainted with Allie and Owen through some funny needle drops. Owen, who’s a simple pizza guy trying his luck with any woman he can find, essentially acts as a little douche-y, but he’s not so bad as to make you hate him. As for Allie, she’s basically tried her hand at finding a man that will respect her, but is also slightly desperate because all of her friends are living happy lives. Both of them are simply written to be for each other, but it’s about the journey, not the destination.
The narrative flow of One Night Only is best described by a surprisingly relevant line that the two share: Allie and Owen are on parallel tracks, but they end up at the same station. From their first nerve-wracking encounter outside Allie’s apartment to some wild gatherings and even an attempted robbery for the last condom, the hijinks that these two get into are surprisingly paced naturally. Albeit, at certain points, some of these situations are set up to be comedically contrived, including what happens after that last point. It’s basically a rollercoaster of narrative plot points between the two: whenever Allie’s getting her heart on, Owen is stuck trying to just pass the time by, whether that’s muttering his tiredness or just making random small talk. The vice versa also happens, but over the course of the night, these parallels are more focused on trying to create that closeness between the two.
Whenever Allie and Owen are together, it almost feels like the chemistry they share is just slightly forced because of the narrative push. It’s like you can almost feel the spark between them actually forming, but the way that they try to “avoid” one another can feel slightly too mischievous. Plus, when they’re set up for those traditional romance movie plot points, like Allie finally showing her skills, it tries to be too much of a feel-good moment. Yet, when they’re doing their own thing, Allie and Owen are a lot more interesting to watch because of the individual chaos they get into.
Allie’s interest in finding a guy just puts her in a metaphorical shark tank filled with a variety of “horn-bones” with a few surprising cameos. Meanwhile, Owen’s night is more active, both physically and metaphorically, as he’s running across town and back to get it on. Within their individual spaces, both of these characters feel more expressive and actually feel like people who happily break out of the stereotypical norm. This is largely in part due to the lively performances of Turner and Barbaro, who do their best in making Allie and Owen characters that feel real, but only when they’re separate.
As for the comedy of One Night Only, Gluck and the creative team go all in with making the premise more charged than the trailers let on. This mandate, if you could believe got passed by Congress, has its detractors, through rebellious graffiti art, and supporters, like a hardcore conservative commentator on the news. It’s a lingering thought in the background, but whenever it’s actually addressed, it feels like it’s slightly spoofing actual talk about the reality of things. There’s these little beats, like Owen’s mom and her partner briefly arguing about how this got into place and one of Allie’s aspiring lovers being a bit of a technofascist. It’s these small details that are written more comedically to maintain the comical tone, but I would’ve loved to feel more of an impact from this outside of that second act twist.
That said, some of the comedy does work in some places. The kid that Allie’s friend is babysitting throughout the night is a raunchy-mouthed little brat that got a few chuckles out from me. Plus, there’s surprisingly a lot of sexual medication commercial spoofing that not only works in making you laugh, but also creates some fun needle drop moments. Of course, those musical needle drops are pretty much for every person who only follows anything mainstream. Fortunately, it also uses New York City’s backdrop not as an aesthetic, but actually a contributor to the humor. From constantly riding those Citibikes to some off-beat ads on the subway train (shout-out Duolingo), the sexually driven, slightly raunchy humor mostly works.
One Night Only is hilariously chaotic, finding its heartbeat through Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro’s individual performances within Will Gluck’s humor-charged take on The Purge. It might not be as thought-provoking, even though some of its content does want to speak more on it, but it gives new romantics a good night’s watch.
Rating: ★★★
One Night Only releases in theaters on August 7.
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.