“We got to fit a year’s worth into 12 hours.”
So I went into this movie completely blind. All I knew were the two actors playing the lead, Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro. I was expecting your typical rom com that I’m not the intended target audience for. Then I walk into the theater and read the following tagline: Two New Yorkers search for love on the one night of the year when sex is legal. And at that moment all I can think is, what in The Purge is this nonsense? So, in this Will Gluck-directed (Friends with Benefits and Anybody But You) feature film, Turner and Barbaro play two strangers, Owen and Allie respectively, who crash into each other in an ever-so-slightly fictionalized New York on the one night when single people are allowed to have sex. Recently dumped Owen and hopeful romantic Allie may be the only two singles in the city looking for more than a quick encounter. They feel a spark when they meet, but a series of missteps and side quests complicate their night. It’s among the most ridiculous plots that I’ve heard in a while. But funnily enough, somehow it’s also one of the most entertaining movies that I’ve seen all year.
Speaking of the plot, allow me to provide you with the logistics, because they are needed to fully comprehend what the story had to overcome to be as good as it was. It’s set in an alternate-universe United States where an authoritarian Congress has outlawed premarital sex 364 days a year. Under this law, enforced by government-implanted neurochemical biosensors, unmarried citizens are granted a single 12-hour reprieve each year from 7:00 p.m. on August 7th to 7:00 a.m. the following morning to engage in legal sexual activity.
Will Gluck really knows how to craft character-driven stories, which is the film’s biggest plus. This isn’t surprising given Gluck’s proven track record in this genre along with selecting the right actors to bring the characters to life, which Turner and Barbaro are. As Allie, Barbaro is funny, as a mildly cynical commercial jingle singer with a tendency to daydream. But overall, she is hopeful as she seeks a real connection on a night where the city is mostly only looking for a temporary one. Meeting up with a friend, they make a pact to be each other wingmen to ensure that neither ends up in a bad hookup like previous iterations. Naturally, that pact lasts about as long as a bathroom break, as her so-called friend abandons her before they even have time to get a buzz from their first drink.
Meanwhile Turner’s Owen is a hopelessly romantic pizza shop owner who values traditional, lasting relationships, which is why he is left completely blindsided and heartbroken when his live-in girlfriend (Maya Hawke), dumps him right as the citywide event begins. Talk about brutal; on the one night that he can be intimate with his significant other, she has the unmitigated gull to tell him her intentions to hook up with someone other than him. And while I sensed that was exactly what was coming during their awkward time together, I was taken aback by her have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too attitude about it, as she was sure that their relationship could survive that kind of gut punch.
So that is where we find our leads, and despite a chance encounter earlier on, they both find themselves on a rollercoaster journey, forming connections with potential candidates just for things to go south right as it was going in their favor. Each failed incident brings the pair back into each other’s orbit, resulting in the two spending the hours talking, wandering the city, and forming an unexpected deep emotional bond.
The film also has a couple of funny cameos, to include callbacks to previous stars of another popular Gluck-directed film. The addition of Levar Burton and Molly Ringwald was also a pleasant surprise. The two played off one another quite well, adding to the awkwardness of Owen’s encounters with them. Speaking of awkwardness, Barbaro had one of those herself, which seemed to be a way to impart the age old lesson of never meet your heroes. But both instances were examples of how the film took a ridiculous plot and kept things lighthearted and entertaining.
But as I mentioned, what keeps the film from devolving are the characters and their chemistry. Owen and Allie repeatedly cross paths across Manhattan—outside her apartment, in a bodega fighting over the city’s last condom, even inside a police station. Eventually, the two realize they both want to avoid the hyper-sexualized free-for-all around them. They agree to team up as platonic wing-pieces to help each other find suitable partners before the clock runs out. Granted, there was only one way the film was going to end. For me, it was all about their witty banter and ribbing of one another, which is what their relationship became after their failed first encounter. However, as excellent as this pair were together, there was one character who stole the show every time he was on the screen, despite his part amounting to less than ten minutes of screen time. His name is Mateo Ray, and while his time onscreen was limited, he most certainly made the most of it, delivering so quick-witted quips that made you both love and hate him.
Condom Nights might have been another good name for the film, but I suppose One Night Only is a more tasteful title. At least the film stressed the importance of safe sex, making it a requirement of the mandate. I have a hard time thinking that the writer wasn’t in the middle of or had just got done watching the first Purge movie when the idea for this film struck him. And while I still can’t get over the ridiculousness of the idea, what I can’t deny is the brilliant execution of the idea. One Night Only is undoubtedly my favorite rom com of the year, and with good reason. I doubt it will win the weekend, but it’s definitely worth a watch.
