‘One Night Only’: Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner Charm Our Pants off in Will Gluck’s Ridiculously Horny Dystopian Rom-Com

Alci Rengifo

Will Gluck knows how to craft rom-coms the way other directors skillfully do action movies. He chooses just the right look and pitch perfect casting for scripts that in lesser hands would descend into pure absurdity. We are already walking into one of these movies expecting nothing more than a sugar high. With “One Night Only,” Gluck imagines a rather soft dystopia where sex is tightly controlled by a fascist government. The premise is then hitched to what we already expect; a pair of attractive actors having to navigate obstacles to figure out if they are fated to be together.

Writer Travis Braun seems to be borrowing from “The Purge” as the story opens on the one night of the year where unmarried couples are allowed to have sex. How does the state even keep track? Turns out people receive a kind of neurochemical censor on their wrists that changes colors if they get frisky. New York pizza shop owner Owen (Callum Turner) is looking forward to spending the night with his girlfriend, Malika (Maya Hawke). In another corner of town, Allie (Monica Barbaro), a singer for commercial jingles, is tired of once-a-year hook ups and seeks a genuine emotional connection. Alas, before the night commences, Owen is shattered when Malika announces that she wants to try having sex with someone else, just to test the waters. Distraught, Owen goes out into the city looking for someone to sleep with. Allie is also left adrift, meeting mostly weirdos while her friends seem to easily find great dates. 

“One Night Only” is proving surprisingly divisive among some reviewers who seem to have been expecting a hard-hitting political commentary. For most of his career, Will Gluck has specialized precisely in breezy escapism. His best films, such as “Easy A” and “Anyone But You,” are about likeable characters caught in the kind of dilemmas we can only dream about. Braun’s screenplay for “One Night Only” is like a lite jab at our current cultural battles. While Owen will bemoan his situation at a bar, we see a MAGA-style politician on TV boast to foreign media how teen pregnancies have dropped in the United States thanks to the current policy. As with “The Purge” films, there are quirky lapses of logic. For example, couldn’t many people just get married, do the deed, and then get divorced? Then again, most non-dystopian rom-coms already present romantic situations that are far from realistic.

Gluck is out to have escapist fun here, even referencing his own work with hilarious cameos by “Anyone But You” stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell as faces on social media profiles and dating apps. There are jokes that land well in a farcical way, like Owen finding himself without a condom when a bartender seems willing to meet up after her shift (protection is mandated by the law). At the same time, Allie meets a musician who seems absolutely perfect after they duet at a piano bar. Now the two leads scurry around the city looking for condoms, which are hoarded for this night. They eventually have to face off over the one sole condom to be found at a bodega, where the owner cheerfully price gouges it up to $200. Oh, and if you happened to have broken the rules before the designated night, your wrist neurochemical censor. 

As is typical in a Gluck film, if not many a rom-com, Allie and Owen meet and clearly have a spark but for a while need to annoy each other. It’s quite frustrating as they wander a landscape where all around people are in miniskirts, making out and having sex on subways and street corners. Yet, while everyone is good-looking and Turner in particular is made to show off his torso (like Powell in “Anyone But You”), the main entertainment is the romantic gags. There’s not that much flesh in “One Night Only,” even the needle drops are swooning pop standards. The ending is also an odd near cop out, preferring to settle on a corny life lesson than a real stance against the repressive law in place. Gluck is not out to fight fascism here. Yet, the cinematography by Yaron Orbach is irresistibly glossy and Turner and Barbaro show off genuine charm. As a date movie, “One Night Only” knows what it is and will satisfy its target audience.

“One Night Only” releases Aug. 7 in theaters nationwide.