Universal's glossy late summer offering, One Night Only, is the first wide-releasing romcom since April, but its elevator pitch is a bizarre one: what if premarital sex was only legal for 12 hours one night a year? The film has been referred to as "Sex Purge," a concept that sounds like a grim Handmaid's Tale-adjacent horror but is instead treated as a sunny meet-cute backdrop.
A gimmicky premise with grim implications
Introductory text informs viewers that "premarital sex has been outlawed in the US" and is now only legal for 12 hours on one night annually. This "government decreed sexual climate" makes being an incel a "badge of honour," the result of an "ideological grenade" thrown by Congress. People wear biosensors that detect sex chemicals, turning from red to green when married or during the purge. Protection is mandatory, with condom surge pricing up to $2,000 apiece, and breaking the law leads to severe punishment.
Set in New York City, the film follows Owen (Callum Turner) and Allie (Monica Barbaro) as they hunt for sex against a ticking clock. Owen's girlfriend (Maya Hawke) chooses the night to hook up with a neighbour, while Allie's queer roommate calls it a night "for the straights" and urges her to get out there. Their paths cross, and for reasons that never quite make sense, they become wingmen instead of lovers.
Slick visuals, underwhelming script
Director Will Gluck brings a bright, poppy slickness to the film, especially compared with Netflix's flat romcoms. But as with his last film, Anyone But You, he masters a 2000s aesthetic without much else. The leads are an improvement over Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell's vacant pairing, but Travis Braun's writing lacks smart or specific dialogue to justify why they don't just hook up immediately.
The film is less romcom and more a raunchy sex caper, with ineffective cameos from Julia Fox, Pete Davidson, Molly Ringwald, Nicholas Braun, and Roma Maffia. There's a gimmicky, ADHD quality with misfiring pop culture references, and the script feels like moments rather than a fully realised story. The characters lack thought-through journeys, and the banter between Turner and Barbaro is too perfunctory to inspire caring.
A sex-negative twist
Surprisingly, the film becomes progressively sex-negative, ridiculing those who want sex and applying moral superiority to those who don't. There's too much yet not enough world-building, leaving questions like why no one mentions masturbation. The premise is unavoidably grim, especially at a dark political moment, making it hard to root for characters who aren't trying to destroy such a barbaric system. Instead, One Night Only plays like government propaganda, suggesting sex purge might be a good idea after all.
One Night Only is out in Australian cinemas on 6 August and in the US and the UK on 7 August.
