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

"Maybe the fascists were right about this one."

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, is clearly inspired by The Purge's dystopian horror premise. It 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 bafflingly dire yet insurmountable conceit 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 but unmarried adults. Any satirical world-building or political and social ramifications of its conservative treatment of sex are 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 also being banned) 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 easily described as the "sex purge" movie.


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