Will Gluck’s R-rated rom-com reimagines the genre with a new twist
One Night Only is a high concept, slightly dystopian romantic comedy from director Will Gluck, who has carved out a successful space in making R-rated rom-coms that are a little edgier than the typical genre fare, including Friends with Benefits, About Last Night, and Anyone But You.
The film’s premise imagines a near future where US law has taken a Puritanical turn, and premarital sex is outlawed, enforced by biometric markers which monitor and collect everyone’s physical data and sent it to Uncle Sam.
But for one night a year, that mandate is lifted, and it’s basically become an unofficial holiday. So it’s kind of like The Purge of getting laid.
It’s in this environment that we meet thirtysomethings Allie (Monica Babaro), a romantic who’s interested in finding Mr. Right, and Owen (Callum Turner), a faithful guy who finds himself heartbroken on the eve of what he anticipated would be a special night with his longtime girlfriend.
Neither’s really the type to engage in one-night stands, but feeling the sting of their respective solo situations, both decide to brave the night and try to get lucky (in love or lust, respectively), leading to an unlikely series of humorous encounters where they just can’t help but keep bumping into each other, in situations of both competition and collaboration, and therein the beginning of a friendship.
Narratively it’s a predictable meet-cute/frenemies/will-they-won’t-they type of movie to be sure, but with lots of fun gags along the way. It’s hilarious and sweeter than you might expect, and jam packed with fun supporting characters and tons of cameos – most delightfully the characters played by LeVar Burton and Molly Ringwald.
Oddly, the movie doesn’t really get into the the political implications of its premise, simply setting up “premarital sex is illegal” as the backdrop and leaving that at face value. It doesn’t really offer any witty societal commentary or explanation of how the US wound up in that situation, which feels like a missing piece (by contrast, the movies in the parallel-narrative series The Purge went full blast with both barrels as socio-political commentary, and I love them for it).
Despite the brazenly sexual nature of its narrative, One Night Only is actually a pretty tasteful exploration of relationships, set in an absurd premise. It’s very funny, and that mostly comes from situational humor and innuendo – it’s not super raunchy or full of nudity, and plays as more of an NYC-set “out all night” movie like After Hours than specifically a sex comedy. And at the end of the day, it’s much more about connection than carnality.
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