"One Night Only:" When a Rom-Com Can’t Read the Room

If you've been to a movie in the past month there's a good chance you've seen the trailer for One Night Only, and if you live in a major city there's an even better chance that you've seen a billboard or two. For the past few weeks this film's advertising has been downright inescapable and as of this weekend it is finally in theaters. While having the style of a stereotypical rom-com, One Night Only comes with a twist that movie-goers are labeling "stupid" at best and "offensive" at worst. So what's the deal with One Night Only and what made it illicit such a venomous reaction?

Written by Travis Braun, One Night Only is the latest rom-com from Will Gluck, the director behind Easy A, Friends with Benefits and Anyone But You. It takes place in an alternate New York City where pre-martial sex has been outlawed except for one night a year. Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner play strangers Allie and Owen as they navigate this crazy night that keeps trying to draw them into each others' arms. As expected, raunchy hijinx ensue as the clock ticks.

The plot of One Night Only is the kind of thing you come up while joking around with friends, or an amateur screenplay idea you think of while drunk. It is all things considered, a sexual Purge that reads more like a Rupaul's Drag Race acting challenge than a serious Hollywood script. It is certainly the silliest idea for a rom-com in recent years, and while the genre often attracts vitriol from pretentious film fans, I believe these kind of projects still deserve a place in the American cinema landscape. But taking up space and being good are two separate things entirely...

I will give credit where credit is due, One Night Only is more charismatic than I thought it would be. There are some genuine laughs and I commend the film for not taking itself too seriously. Unfortunately, that is where my praise stops. None of the performances are particularly memorable, but the real issue here is the script and how seemingly little it was thought out.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the blatant continuity issues in this film, including one in the first act where a man completely disappears from one shot to the next. Artistic and creative merit are subjective things but what's not subjective is technical proficiency and One Night Only has mistakes that I can only describe as amateur. Seriously, there are student films that treat their productions with more care than this $25 million feature from Universal. Anyone who has worked on a professional set will find this film excruciating to watch.

Obviously, a country that completely outlaws something as common as premartial sex is an unapologetically fascist one. This is enforced by installing bio-sensor tattoos on the population to prevent coitus between the unmarried. Despite some strategically placed lines and graffiti, there isn't any meaningful protest against this anti-sex mandate and by the end of the film, Allie and Owen begin to accept it as a good thing that encourages connection rather than lust. It almost feels... pro-fascist? Yes, the script is undeniably silly but to make a film with this ending as the United States gets more totalitarian by the day, One Night Only is in terrible taste. This is made worse by the fact that this sex mandate solely targets heterosexual sex, this has led various viewers to see this film as straight people cosplaying oppression that the American gay community has faced for decades. Once again, to make this film as dozens of anti-queer bills are being passed around the United States makes One Night Only borderline offensive. My favorite films are ones whose stories reflect the real world and its problems, One Night Only seems to...celebrate them.

Aside from the bonkers plot, One Night Only is as unoriginal as it gets for a rom-com and could easily pass for a Hallmark movie. We have seen these characters so many times over they might as well be nameless. It's hard to choose which is more frustrating: One Night Only's unoriginality or inability to read the room.

With having more charisma than expected, One Night Only is both technically and creatively bankrupt. It is enjoyable solely if it is consumed ironically, accompanied by a bottle of wine.