TMS Movie Review: One Night Only

(Universal Pictures)

Will Gluck’s One Night Only feels less like a real movie and more like Gluck’s pitch to be considered for membership of tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s alleged elite society. What should have been a fun, silly romp for romcom fans is curbed by its insanely dystopian lore and setting. I don’t think anyone, especially presently, was asking: “Why don’t we have a romantic comedy set around a government enforced mandate restricting casual sex to one, single night out of the year?” Not even Billy Wilder or Nora Ephron would know what to do with this concept as a broad, sincere picture.

It’s contemporary New York City, and Allison (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner) feel like the only ones on Exemption Night who don’t have dates or anyone interested in hooking up with them for their legal freebie. Allie is a single woman who makes a living singing commercial jingles, while Owen runs a local pizzeria and has been ditched by his girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke) right before the special day. For the next 12 hours, our two leads regularly bump into each other and nearly sabotage their luck while struggling to find a person special enough to be with all night.

Like usual with Gluck flicks, the cast of One Night Only is filled with recognizable faces, this time featuring King Princess, Quintessa Swindell, Nicholas Braun, Julia Fox, Bobby Cannavale, Pete Davidson, Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton. 1990s alt-pop band the New Radicals reunite to deliver the theme song, and the film is based on a script by Travis Braun that Gluck supposedly supplied rewrites of during filming.

(Universal Pictures)

The main problem with One Night Only is how straight Gluck and co. play the theme. You need a real, veteran ‘sicko’ like David Cronenberg or Paul Verhoeven to make something this depraved work at all as a story; or you need to be as vague as possible on why no one can have sex. Instead, we get a mess in tone and messaging from a director who is known for making studio romcoms and slapstick comedies. The movie looks and behaves like a typical romantic comedy, but the characters are all wearing digital monitors that make sure they aren’t breaking the law and casually act like this Orwellian universe is no big deal. Sure, the characters are all vocally against the surveillance heavy mandate, but they also don’t actually care enough to do anything about it and just shrug in acceptance while going on with their controlled lives. It truly feels like both a B-movie you would come across from a Christian production company but with an R rating; or made by someone who thinks invasive surveillance is awesome. We even have Owen’s mom (Ringwald), a character who is supposed to be likable, arguing that the mandate isn’t a ‘tech problem’ and the public is cool with operating in a police state; and the ending coming off unintentionally against free will. [By the way, there’s no explanation on how rape, cheating or homosexuality factor into this nation wide fornication ban either.]

The best I can say about One Night Only is the New Radicals seriously wasted a brand new song on this soundtrack, and both Turner and Barbaro are fine as the stars. Barbaro in particular perfectly fits in a traditional romcom, with her performance making you wish she was in a better romance themed film. Gluck’s previous hit, Anyone But You (2023), had people joking about the dialogue sounding like AI. One Night Only will make you wonder if Gluck would literally direct an AI ‘written’ script if given the opportunity.

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