A world where sex between non-married people is only allowed one day of the year feels like something more attuned to a grim social satire than a flirty rom-com, but execution is everything, and it manages to work in Will Gluck’s beguiling “One Night Only.” While not every question of how such a program would work is answered, Gluck admirably does as much world-building as he can to carry us along with a silly sex comedy.
Patton Oswalt once joked that every romantic comedy should simply be called “Trying to F–k,” and “One Night Only” takes that literally. With plenty of gags along the way paired with the strong chemistry between leads Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro, “One Night Only” feels like the kind of movie that shouldn’t work, and you’re delighted that it does.
For the last three years, the United States has been under “the mandate,” where non-martial sexual intercourse is allowed for only one night per year. There are biosensors in everyone’s skin, and the cops will arrest you if break the law. Owen (Turner) was planning to hook up with his girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke), but she wants to have sex with their neighbor and encourages him to sleep with someone else for the good of their relationship. Allie (Barbaro) wants to get laid but do it with someone who offers the potential of a real relationship, not just a one-night stand. Owen and Allie bump into each other, it goes poorly, and then they keep meeting over the course of the night, resolved to sleep with other people despite their growing connection.
Gluck does a solid job of setting the tone for the film, not getting too caught up in the repressive politics of the mandate, but rather emphasizing the general silliness of the world and ways it mirrors our own. When we first meet Allie, she’s singing in a recording booth, and we think she’s doing a professional pop cover only to learn she’s providing vocals for a medication ad.
The film also leans heavily into background gags and strange moments, highlighting a world where there’s heavy demands for repeal and even the cops are annoyed that they have to deal with this dumb law. “One Night Only” doesn’t mirror any real-world repression close enough to make a statement, but it is reminiscent enough of tyrannical laws from our past and present to make us believe that such a ruling would simply be folded into daily experience.
Thankfully, we never get too bogged down in the politics of the mandate thanks to the performances from Turner and Barbaro. It’s a shame that rom-coms have been so thoroughly shuttled off to streaming that a theatrical release requires the outlandish premise of “One Night Only,” but at least Gluck and his actors don’t forget why we see this kind of movie in the first place, and that’s why it connects. While Turner has played a romantic lead before, he’s never been more charming than he is here. Barbaro is equally winning, managing to be funny and charismatic in the way a movie star has to be to automatically get you on their side. For a film that can play as awfully familiar in the way it pushes and pulls it star-crossed lovers, Turner and Barbaro are a reminder that plenty of rising stars could nail this genre if only given the opportunity.
The hump you have to get over is whether or not such a clearly oppressive and horrifying prospect is the stuff of light comedy. “The Purge” movies make a coherent horror statement because we understand how authoritarian law ties into grotesque behavior. We don’t ask how crime is treated the rest of the year in those movies; we intuit that this is a dystopia and run with it. “One Night Only” is a tougher ask, and it certainly raises more than a few questions.
For example, the biosensors can tell when people are having sex, but condoms are also mandated, so how would the government know if they’re being used or not? Allie’s lesbian neighbor is babysitting a horny brat for the night and makes a comment about how this night is for the straights, although we do see some homosexual couples making out (there’s a lot of making out in this movie, but nothing sexually explicit), so how do they live in this world? It’s easy to get side-tracked with the “how” of this world rather than accepting it as presented.
Perhaps the biggest challenge a film like “One Night Only” faces is being a high-concept picture in a world of pre-packaged adaptations. Every story is essentially an ask of the audience, and adaptations clear the way by arguing that in a previous form, an audience already accepted the ask. Too many viewers believe they need to be “smarter” than the film by poking holes in every plot beat, denying the ask from the outset. But every film is a concoction; the challenge is how contrived and convoluted it feels.
I feel like a storyteller has you as long as they can hold you, and Gluck, a veteran rom-com director, knows his genre well enough to let the premise of “One Night Only” be a challenge rather than an obstacle. But once he starts rolling, it becomes a sweet, funny ride that won’t leave you feeling screwed.
“One Night Only” opens in theaters Aug. 7.
