Jumping their bones on One Night Only

One Night Only (Will Gluck, Anyone But You) is a whimsical switch up on the Gen Z/Millennial dating scene. The premise is original. What if a puritanical government imposed sexual mandates on people who were not married? But gave them dispensation. For one night of the year they could have as much premarital sex as they wanted. Think New Year’s Eve for singletons. That’s the situation our two principal, characters, Allie (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner) find themselves in as the countdown to their night of libidinous liberation begins. Allie is a commercial singer, Owen runs a pizza shop. Both are trying to find love – or er, whatever – on this luminous night when those of a certain status throw on their party togs and roam the streets and clubs in search of, well, at least the next available bedmate. This is a singles scene writ large. And because people are so pent-up for sex (aka horny) all manner of them want to cut corners, exploit or otherwise spend the night with someone they might otherwise never would. Other than the movie's scenes of sexual euphoria with couples on the streets or subways frantically embracing one another to get to coitus before the night is through (there are countdown clocks everywhere) the movie is a basic romcom. Girl meets boys if not sooner than later. Or you have to kiss a lot of frogs….. The film has an obvious novel premise (or gimmick), good enough for a movie theme but gets a bit tiring. I mean how much running about and seeing hysterical people jump each other's bones can you take? Okay, it’s fine as it goes. There are no real messages except at one point Owen suggesting the “fascists” might be on to something by limiting sex and making people think about what the real meaning of relationships should be. And of course there’s the subtle stab at the present US administration (which as far as I know isn’t’ prudish), when one character blames “Obama.” Obama, asks Owen? “Well, “the pendulum has swung,” she says.