THE STORY – Recently dumped Owen and hopeful romantic Allie might be the only two singles in New York City looking for more than just a quick encounter on the one night of the year when single people are allowed to have sex. They both feel a spark when they meet, but a series of missteps and side quests complicate their night, keeping them apart. As they each race toward and away from each other across the city, they just might discover that the one thing they want most is closer than they think.
THE CAST – Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, King Princess, Ziwe, Ben Marshall, Ella Loudon, Molly Ringwald & Levar Burton
THE TEAM – Will Gluck (Director) & Travis Braun (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 102 Minutes
Travis Braun’s screenplay for “One Night Only,” the new romantic comedy starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner as single New Yorkers in an alternate present where the government has outlawed sex for single people except for one night a year, has a ridiculous premise. Even if you just accept the film’s government mandate at face value, it raises a lot of questions (namely, whether or not “The Purge” exists in this world and if its creators can sue for copyright infringement) that need to be answered before many people can even start caring about any of the characters. Braun and director Will Gluck understand the ridiculousness of the premise. They also understand that most of these questions simply do not matter to the story they’re telling, and deign to answer them only through winking nods to the audience, like a hilariously profane illustrated chart of legal and illegal activities for singletons and an asinine political talking head saying how it’s basically an honor to be an incel now that no one can have sex for 99% of the year. Braun’s clever, laugh-filled screenplay practically begs the audience not to think too hard about its own premise while also calling attention to it at every turn with a line of witty wordplay or an inspired piece of production design. That quality will no doubt irk many, but if you give yourself over to the movie’s considerable charms, you’ll find one of the funniest films of the year, and a romance that cements Barbaro and Turner as two of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars.
The film’s plot follows directly from its premise: Allie (Barbaro), a commercial jingle singer currently trying to wrap her tongue around the words “plaque psoriasis” to the tune of Sara Bareilles’s “Brave”, is hoping she can find a real relationship, or at least something more than a one-night stand this year, but she gets ditched by her best friend in favor of an actual prince. Owen (Turner), a pizza shop owner so distractingly handsome that seemingly everyone on the street stops and turns to stare at him, is hoping to propose to his girlfriend over omakase for two. Still, she tells him she wants them to have sex with other people tonight. Well, she wants to have sex with their neighbor, and if Owen happens to find someone to have sex with as well, so much the better. Pushed to go outside their comfort zones, Allie and Owen keep running into each other in awkward situations, but never act on their obvious attraction to each other. What will it take for them to see that what they’re each searching for is in the other?
While the film doesn’t waste time on too many details about the history or ramifications of the no-sex-for-singles government mandate (that it went into effect three years ago with biochemical sensor tattoos that turn green if you’re allowed to have sex and monitor your vitals is pretty much all we get), it gets a lot of comedic mileage out of imagining all the different ways humans would react to it. Everyone engages in a New Year’s Eve-style countdown to the start of the legal sex night that explodes in a veritable orgy all over Manhattan – kissing on subways, ripping off clothes on the sidewalk outside of the gym, and, naturally, frenzied rushes to buy the last condoms available at the corner bodega. Allie and Owen encounter thieving sex workers, wealthy patrons hosting an exclusive party, a repeat sexual offender, and all the dregs of the New York dating scene, made even more desperate by the limited time to bang somebody. The film is filled wall-to-wall with visual gags referencing “the night” and “the mandate”, each one funnier than the last, and every laugh line in the script lands thanks to an incredible cast full to bursting with famous faces absolutely killing it in bit parts – Este Haim and Ziwe as bouncers, Bobby Cannavale and Pete Davidson as the stars of a cop show, and Molly Ringwald and Levar Burton completely covered in bubble wrap, among many others.
Even when surrounded by scenery chewers, though, it’s impossible to take your eyes off the two leads. Their white-hot chemistry is so palpable you can feel it throw the characters off when they first meet, and their casual line deliveries and grounded presence make Allie and Owen feel like real people instead of overly erudite mouthpieces for the writer. While the film makes a running gag out of Turner’s good looks, he backs it up with a deeply sensitive screen presence and just the right amount of swagger. Barbaro has been on the cusp of stardom ever since “Top Gun: Maverick”, and this should easily get her there. Anyone who saw her Oscar-nominated performance as Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown” knows she can sing, but she goes even further here, adding a layer of comedy to both her vocal and physical work that shows her range. As most rom-com leads must, they have to sell one gigantic moment of stupidity in order to give an even bigger catharsis at the climax, and although this one is particularly stupid, they bring the necessary depth and emotional honesty to their characters to sell it. With a script this humorous, it would be easy to wink at the audience in that moment, but both Barbaro and Turner turn inward and allow the characters to believably regress, trusting that the audience will follow them – the mark of true movie stars.
A more serious film could easily be made from this premise, one that engages with the idea of the surveillance state and the changes to society such a restrictive measure would surely bring about. Braun and Gluck go in the opposite direction, mostly to their credit. “One Night Only” has a spring in its step right from the start, and that sprightly pace never lets up. Gluck’s skill with a needle drop (think “Pocketful of Sunshine” in “Easy A”) is in fine form, with several hilariously on-point selections getting massive laughs from an audience willing to put their fun-hating, CinemaSins-style questions aside and just have a good time laughing at a world that’s even more ridiculous than our own. Yes, the film’s “The Purge, but for sex,” premise has earned all the laughter it’s gotten since the trailer dropped. But Braun, Gluck, and their team have the last laugh: “One Night Only” is a great time at the movies, on any night of the year.
