There is an old saying: every rule has an exception. One of the best examples is the existence of Tax Free Weekends (which actually is the weekend that this review is being written) on school supplies just before classes begin. On the fictional side is the franchise of The Purge films, where one night a year everything is legal, including murder. One Night Only takes that basic concept and makes it specific to one activity.
Will Gluck (Anyone But You) directs Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro here in a society where premarital sex is outlawed all but one night per year, known as “The Mandate”. Owen (Turner), who owns a pizza parlor and Allie (Barbaro), a contract-for-hire singer, are two unmarried people in New York City who are trying to navigate this night to try and find the right person for them. They race through the twelve-hour ban to get there, but keep finding each other.
This film is shot well and really makes New York City look great. The cast does well, but Turner and Barbaro seem to miss that type of chemistry I have come to expect given what I have seen in other films. I understand the film’s premise of two strangers who keep bumping into each other by chance and start to grow on each other, but it just feels forced. There are also some really fun cameos, so if you can avoid looking that kind of thing up, you should.
At about one hundred minutes, the pacing works for this type of film, but the downside to the story is that it is VERY predictable. There ARE some good comedic moments (which helps), but the level of suspension of disbelief is HUGE, starting with its overall premise. One Night Only simply misses its mark and did not have the magic it could have. Be warned that there are a lot of adult situations in this film given its premise, but I will still recommend it, but only as watching it home on a streaming service.