One Night Only (2026) review

 

What seemed like a pretty creative idea on paper is not so much in execution as One Night Only while having an interesting premise and look at what could be a not too far into the future landscape it doesn't quite have the elements needed to be a really good rom-com. The story revolves around a new mandate introduced by Congress where for a short 12 hour period one day every year pre-marital sex is allowed leading to chaos in the streets, resturants, subway and even the sidewalks no place is safe as the movie follows the story of two newly single people played by Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro. The two meeting one another countless times throughout the night as they try to find love and sleep with someone within said 12 hour time period. 

One Night Only unfortunately isn't all that exciting which is a shame because given the plot it leaves the door wide open for many NYC nightime shenanigans and while there is some there isn't nearly enough at least for me. That being said it's not all bad as the two leads do share a sweet albeit at times slightly wooden chemistry that if done better could've easily propelled this movie into the heights of the director's previous hit Anyone But You. 

One Night Only is fun for sure but it's lacking in a lot of areas relying on trendy aspects from filming in public to really nailing home the sexulization of the modern era. Monica Barbaro is absolutely all kinds of stunning in this movie and really just gets her performance down where as I've said before Callum Turner really doesn't have it in him to be a leading man at least not to me. It's not on the level of Anyone But You but One Night Only isn't all bad just could've been so much better.

★★