‘One Night Only’ review: Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro spark in otherwise limp romantic comedy

Dir: Will Gluck. US. 2026. 102mins

What if single people were only allowed one 12-hour period each year to have sex? That might sound like the premise for a dystopian drama, but One Night Only is a frisky romantic comedy that promises something far more risque than it achieves. Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner have decent chemistry as two New Yorkers who keep running into each other on that fateful night. But a knowingly preposterous conceit never fully realises its potential as a witty, naughty examination of the intersection of lust and love.

Suffers from a stultifying timidity

Universal releases One Night Only in the US on August 7, with the film hitting UK theatres on August 28. Director Will Gluck’s last feature, 2023’s similarly suggestive Anyone But You, collected $220 million worldwide, demonstrating that adult-themed romantic comedies could still thrive at the multiplex. One Night Only’s cheeky twist on the premise of The Purge may also prove a potent draw, and rising stars Barbaro and Turner could certainly help pull in a crowd.

The film is set three years after the US government declared premarital sex illegal, only allowing unmarried people to have sex between 7pm and 7am on one single day of the year. On that day, pizzeria owner Own (Turner) prepares to take out his beloved long-term girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke), only to discover that she plans to have sex with someone else. Heartbroken, Owen runs into Allie (Barbaro), an aspiring singer who has gone out for the evening in the fruitless hope of something more substantial than just a one-night stand. After an awkward first meeting, they vow to find other people to sleep with – although their paths keep crossing over the following 12 hours.

Screenwriter Travis Braun has hit upon a clever high-concept idea that is not overly concerned with answering all of its premise’s inherent questions. (For instance, how could this law possibly be enforced?) One Night Only offers some milquetoast political commentary, suggesting that this sex ban was the result of the country’s turn toward fascism, and there is a sense that many New Yorkers are protesting the mandate. But the film largely concentrates on the comedic complications of not just getting someone to sleep you, but also obtaining a condom on a night in which prophylactics are at a premium.

Not unlike Anyone But You, One Night Only brings together two attractive actors and then spends most of the runtime conspiring to make their characters hate each other, which is meant to lead to palpable sexual tension. But as with Gluck’s previous picture, the plot obstacles here are frustratingly arbitrary, never tantalising us with Allie and Owen’s pent-up carnal desire. Inevitably, both characters will meet possible sex partners, but each time something goes wrong in convoluted ways. As a result, the audience waits impatiently for these two people to realise they are perfect for one another.

A racier, more daring film would have observed Allie and Owen as they explore their sexual desires over the course of one unbridled evening. But despite showing lots of skin and featuring sexually-suggestive dialogue, One Night Only suffers from a stultifying timidity. The characters are extremely horny, but it becomes clear that Gluck favours romantic commitment over the pleasures of no-attachment sex. Interestingly, this was also an issue with his 2011 romantic comedy Friends With Benefits, a superficially provocative love story about good friends who decide to start sleeping together which shied away from truly examining unconventional relationships.

Barbaro is immensely charming as the insecure Allie, who has an incredible voice but is afraid to perform in front of people. (One Night Only’s best running joke concerns her day job, which involves her singing about medical conditions, like psoriasis, for cheesy television commercials.) The Oscar-nominated A Complete Unknown star has a light touch that Turner struggles to match. When their characters finally start falling in love, he displays an endearing vulnerability, but Turner has a tougher time with One Night Only’s dialogue as Allie and Owen bicker tediously.

Even if One Night Only’s premise feels underdeveloped, the filmmakers do have some fun imagining what this reality would look like. Most amusing is the notion that the lyrics to popular songs would be rewritten for ads peddling sex products, leading to a few choice scenes. And the soundtrack, which contains songs from buzzy contemporary acts like Jungle and Wet Leg, create an alluring atmosphere of sex and youthful abandon – which proves to be more scintillating than Allie and Owen’s mostly chaste night.