Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends with Benefits, Anyone But You) directs Travis Braun’s rom-com script set in a dystopian future America where premarital sex is outlawed under a “chastity mandate” except for one night a year. Two New Yorkers searching for love—Owen (Callum Turner), a pizza shop owner, and Allie (Monica Barbaro), a commercial jingles singer—meet on that very night … several times over. (102 min.)
Glen Setting aside the absolutely absurd premise, which is only tangentially addressed in the storyline, this turns out to be a fun, funny, and surprisingly endearing romantic comedy. Owen is a “good guy,” and now that the 12-hour free-love time has come, he’s set up a romantic evening to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Malika (Maya Hawke). Instead, she sadly informs him that she plans to sleep with someone else on the one night they can, and so should he. If they’re meant to be, they’ll work through it. Meanwhile, Allie plans to go out with her friend, Jacinta (King Princess), and this year, they’re going to take their time and find “their happily ever after at the top of the Empire State Building” guy. Instead, Jacinta hooks up with Tejan (Okieriete Onaodowan) before she and Allie leave the first bar. Think The Purge meets Sleepless in Seattle. Totally ridiculous. Sure, you can sit and fester about how dumb it is, or you can embrace the silly and settle into a charming love story.
ONE NIGHT ONLY
What’s it rated? R
What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee
What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee
Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10
Anna Oh boy, what a world we would live in given the rules that these people are adhering to. I’m telling you right now, you’re not going to talk people out of banging, so this whole premise seems objectively silly. However, the leads are totally adorable, and they somehow manage to make us buy into this silly world. Owen is a pizza dude, passionate and endearing. Allie is a bit of a shrinking violet—making her money from singing jingles but too much of a wallflower to put herself out there in any real way. I like this director. Easy A and Anyone But You are both fun romps that I’m familiar with, and this film fits easily within the rom-com genre and proves entertaining enough, despite the ridiculous premise. Don’t start thinking too hard about how we got here, just enjoy the romp through a night of lust and just maybe a little bit of love too.
Glen The leads do have chemistry, and I especially liked Barbaro’s ability to sell a range of feeling with one quirky look. She’s got eyeroll variations for days and micro expressions down to a science. New York City might be relativity small geographically, but with 8.5 million people, the number of times these two misfits manage to run into each other is kismet to the nth power. It’s like they’re destined for each other, but since Allie’s favorite part of sex is “the buildup,” rest assured, the film takes its sweet time getting these two even sort of together. There’s a fun supporting cast, from ’80s teen queen Molly Ringwald as Owen’s mother, Linda, to LeVar Burton as Linda’s paramour. Everyone’s hot to get down, and lot of the fun is watching our two leads almost hook up with all the wrong people. If you’re in a rom-com mood, park your brain at the theater door and have fun.
Anna Exactly right. Leave your critical-thinking brain at the doorstep and give yourself over to the charm of these two leads. It’s clear from early on that they’re meant for each other—and their missed opportunities with others that come around on the “one night” have none of the charm that they find together. It’s silly, and, as I said walking out of the theater, “so dumb,” but I can’t deny it’s charming as heck. ∆
Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in 40th anniversary edition.
