One Night Only

Owen (Callum Turner) and Ally (Monica Barbaro) fall for each other while trying to hook up with other people in One Night Only (Distributed by Universal Pictures)

One Night Only is a high-concept romantic comedy that wants to have its raunchy cake and be a sweet romance, too. The fact that it mostly works is a testament to the writing, which never pushes the concept any further than the basic premise, and the chemistry between the two leads. It is just pleasant, with some genuinely funny moments.

Callum Turner tends to be kind of bland as a performer, all big smiles and baffled eyebrow movements. He’s fine here but, luckily, Monica Barbaro has enough charm for the both of them. The pairing clicks, a real key for a successful rom-com. It drags out the will-they-or-won’t-they drama a bit too long, has annoying supporting characters and staples on some extremely forced, and superfluous, social commentary. However, the bulk of the movie is a man and a woman accidentally getting to know each other while getting up to shenanigans, all as they try to have sex with other people. It’s pretty fun.

Three years ago, the United States government made it illegal for unmarried people to have sex, except for one night a year. Pizzeria owner Owen plans to use that night to propose to his girlfriend. Commercial jingle singer Ally wants to spend it finding love. When their respective evenings immediately go off the rails, it sends them careening toward a surprising night of discovery.

This is, in just about every way, a traditional rom-com. Two total strangers, seemingly on different paths, constantly run into each other over the course of a single night, fighting fate as they keep setting their sights elsewhere. Their initial meeting is a nice tease. They literally bump into one another outside Ally’s apartment building and flirt promisingly, until Owen throws up on her. They then go their separate ways for the first time, though not before briefly sparking each other’s interest.

That is actually how most of One Night Only (97 minutes, without the end credits) goes: they wind up in the same place, something goofy happens that bonds them, they stubbornly wander off in search of somebody else. Rinse and repeat for the entire movie. That gets old after a while. It is refreshing when things settle down and they talk without some agenda creeping in. More of that would have been appreciated, probably earlier, too. The twists and turns the night takes, as well as the contrivances required to get them in the same place so many times, aren’t as entertaining as seeing the two of them banter.

Director Will Gluck is a veteran of sex comedies, having previously been responsible for Easy A, Friends With Benefits and Anyone But You (also the Peter Rabbit movies, which we’ll ignore for the purposes of this review). He knows how to blend romance, comedy and sexuality. Oddly, One Night Only, despite the plot, doesn’t have a lot of the latter. Yeah, there are a lot of people making out and a few ill-fated intimate encounters, yet, for the most part, there are no sex scenes. The attraction is physical, yes, but it is intensified by their personalities.

They are both old-school romantics, trying to stay true to themselves on a night when they are encouraged to give in to their basest instincts. It is a cute idea and when the screenplay doesn’t allow all the noise to interrupt the stars, it is enjoyable.

3¼ out of 5

Cast:

Callum Turner as Owen

Monica Barbaro as Allie

Directed by Will Gluck

Written by Travis Braun