REEL | Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner Purge 'One Night Only'

"It's been a lot."

Universal Pictures / Olive Bridge Entertainment

One Night Only, director Will Gluck's unusually authoritarian-tinged romantic comedy about a world where premarital sex is outlawed except for a single night a year, in the vein of The Purge's dystopian horror film series, stars Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner in an entirely charming romantic pairing, as two attractive New Yorkers looking to hook up on the only night they are legally allowed to.

While screenwriter Travis Braun references mostly in passing the dire yet bafflingly dystopian premise revolving around the central archaic law having passed in the United States Congress a mere three years ago, the film is far more concerned with the inconveniences of single life under such strict measures limiting sexual relations between otherwise consenting unmarried adults. Any satiral world-building or political and social ramifications of its conservative treament of sex is surface-level at best as Gluck (wisely) jettisons complex logistics for the usual meet-cute setup and rom-com payoff.

Never mind the whole policing bedrooms portion, it's not really elaborated on how every American adult seems to be implanted with biosensors to monitor and prevent them from breaking the law. There are a plethora of cleverly done one-scene cameos from famous and familiar faces as possible suitors for both Barbaro and Turner, including Maya Hawke thanklessly bringing brevity to the girlfriend with possibly the worst (sexual) timing ever.

Barbaro and Turner make One Night Only into a mostly pleasing, millennial-coded comedy despite its casual setting in a fascist, totalitarian surveillance state. New York City (mainly Manhattan) seems basically the same aside from strangers literally f*cking in the streets for twelve hours once a year without much pre-planning, concern for obtaining legally mandated condoms (no mention of birth control pills or IUDs still existing) until the last possible minute, or not particularly doing anything to repeal a deeply unpopular and draconian mandate. It's a strange but fun watch, despite being best describted as the "sex purge" movie.


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