One Night Only

Being single in 2026 isn’t exactly easy. I know because I’m single myself, and it feels tougher than ever to meet someone looking for a real relationship. Dating apps can be exhausting, and walking up to someone in person somehow feels even weirder these days. Still, as bad as dating can be, Will Gluck’s One Night Only imagines a world where it could be even worse. In this version of society, single people are only allowed to have sex one night a year. Sounds like a nightmare, right? It also raises the question: how would you survive what is basically Purge Night for singles?

Owen (Callum Turner) seems like a genuinely good guy. He owns a pizza shop and is happily dating his girlfriend (Maya Hawke), fully expecting to propose to her that evening. Unfortunately, life has other plans. During dinner, she announces she’d rather spend the night sleeping with the maintenance guy from their apartment building. Needless to say, Owen’s proposal plans disappear in a hurry.

Looking for somewhere to regroup, Owen heads to his mom Linda’s (Molly Ringwald) house, only to discover she has plans of her own. At the same time, Allie (Monica Barbaro) is having an equally disastrous evening after her wingwoman immediately ditches her for a guy. As fate would have it, Owen and Allie keep crossing paths throughout the night. Every encounter sparks a little chemistry, but something always gets in the way before either of them can act on it. If they’re ever going to find out whether they’re meant to be together, they’ll first have to survive the craziest night of the year.

Written by Travis Braun, One Night Only is at its best whenever it focuses on Owen and Allie. Turner and Barbaro have an easy chemistry that’s enjoyable to watch, and every time the movie brings them together, it starts to find its rhythm. I couldn’t help but think that if Braun had simply trusted that relationship and found more creative ways for them to keep running into each other, the movie would have been much stronger.

Instead, One Night Only keeps introducing interesting ideas without ever fully committing to any of them. There’s some political satire sprinkled throughout, along with commentary about dating culture and modern relationships, but none of those ideas are explored deeply enough to leave much of an impression. And while the characters spend the entire movie obsessed with sex, I found myself wishing the comedy had a little more bite. The movie is charming enough, but it’s much cuter than it is genuinely funny.

Ironically, for a sex comedy built around the one night single people are allowed to have sex, One Night Only feels surprisingly shy about sex itself. The movie never really embraces the messiness, awkwardness, or excitement that comes with its own premise, which makes the whole concept feel a little watered down.

Where it does work is in the smaller moments between Owen and Allie. A fun bodega heist and an unexpectedly charming pizza scene are easily the film’s highlights. Turner and Barbaro elevate the material, and it’s during those quieter moments that you start rooting for them. Unfortunately, even their chemistry can’t completely cover up the film’s shortcomings.

I kept wishing One Night Only had trusted its central idea a little more and narrowed its focus. Had it leaned harder into the romance, the comedy, or even the satire, I might have walked away saying, “We’re so back,” when it comes to romantic comedies.

Instead, this film ends up feeling a lot like the one-night stand at the center of its story. There are moments you’ll enjoy, but by the end, you’re ready to head home. I just wish it had given me more reasons to want to stay.

Brian Taylor

Member of the North Texas Film Critics Association, and lover of all things Cinema