One Night Only

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★

Rated: M

Directed by: Will Gluck

Written by: Travis Braun

Produced by: Will Gluck, p.g.a., Jacqueline Monetta, p.g.a.

Starring: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, King Princess, Levar Burton, Okieriete Onaodowan.

Three years ago, premarital sex was outlawed in the United States. Except one night.

Owen (Callum Turner) has it all planed out. He’s a nice guy but doesn’t want to be called a nice guy because girls don’t want to be with a nice guy; like his girlfriend, Malika (Maya Hawke) on the one night they can have sex.  Malika wants Owen to grow outside his box, while she tries out the Brazilian neighbour.

Meanwhile, Allie (Monica Barbaro) is a romantic looking for, The One while cruising for a one-night stand. The sex likely to be just over 2% good.

When wing-friend, Jacinta (King Princess), we’re-not-going-to-settle-for-dick-dust-this-time, meets her man, Tejan (Okieriete Onaodowan), while waiting in line for the toilet, Allie is left on a solo mission. She literally runs into Owen, and then he vomits.

One Night Only is a romantic comedy with a twist of sci -fi. It’s a strange mix with the weight squarely on the romance side. The characters just happen sport tattoos that have biometrics showing if you’re married or single.  Or committing a crime by having premarital sex, except for this one highly horny, celebrated night.

Director, Will Gluck states, ‘The film is an allegory for dating and love in our society right now. I wanted to show how we live now: we are very connected with our phones, yet very, very disconnected from people in real life. So, one of my main goals was to show, what if you took what happens on your phone and put it right in front of your face for 12 hours, that exact same behavior: swiping, texting, the way we talk to people? How would it affect us? Would we act the same way we do now? Would we act differently? That is what we display and explore in the movie.’

Sure, the characters are likeable and cute, Allie with her endearing search for romance and Owen handsome without trying, evoking a, You wouldn’t want to join us, would you? And the comedy is amusing.  But aside from the strange future, no sex before marriage politics (that were skated over), the film didn’t hold any surprises.

The humours tone is, only one condom left in the city so now we’re having to steal it. But One Last Night holds back from being crude and easy humour – it’s a more relatable down-to-earth chuckle at the places the search for love can end up.

I didn’t love this movie, but I didn’t hate it either. Good for a fun cheeky night out.