One Night Only Film Review: Dumb Romantic Fun

One Night Only gets by on the talent and chemistry of Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner despite its nonsensical, hilarious plot.

I’m not a fan of The Purge films by any means, but when I first heard about a narrative that did the same thing but swapped out crime being legal for pre-marital sex, it certainly caught my attention. Adding Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) to the mix as our unlucky in love but beautiful main protagonist Allie alongside Maya Hawke (Do Revenge), who plays Malika, girlfriend to Callum Turner’s pizzeria owner Owen, was enough to get me in the door while keeping my expectations low. Imagine my shock when One Night Only made me laugh with and at it more than I ever thought while also featuring a lovely pair of lead performances from Barbaro and Turner.

Travis Braun’s script centers around the one night a year where people can legally have pre-marital sex and he does a lot of insane things with the concept for sure. There’s a fetch quest that sees our leads Allie and Owen search for a condom amidst total chaos. That should tell you everything that you need to know about this narrative for better or worse. It absolutely cracked me up, in large part because Barbaro and Turner are playing things completely straight as Allie and Owen. They’re the only normal people in One Night Only, which makes it easy to buy into who they are and their romance. 

Barbaro does a tremendous job of capturing what it’s like to have beauty and talent, but lack any sort of confidence in yourself. You’ve definitely met an Allie at some point in your life or perhaps you were her, even if the character checks some romantic comedy cliché boxes. Watching Barbaro bring her out of her shell is truly delightful because audiences get to see how kind, funny, and talented Allie is as the film moves along, and are begging for her to showcase that.

Opposite Barbaro, you have Turner, this absolute Adonis of a man, playing Owen, a guy who can’t seem to catch a break. I don’t blame you if that just sent up red flags of unbelievability, but somehow Turner makes it work with his charm and uncanny ability to play both serious and silly really well. It didn’t take long for me to buy into Owen because this guy gets put through so much, and Turner sells the impact of it all on him before he decides to push forward. 

Put these two together and you’ve got an authentic, cute love story that unfolds against the backdrop of complete chaos. Barbaro and Turner are terrific together throughout. They’re assisted by the fact that Braun keeps them apart, which allows us to get to know Allie and Owen separately through various hijinks before the sparks are set off between them. Those sparks fly and create something undeniable, a dynamic that feels like two people that really met by chance and found a love they’ve always been searching for in each other. It’s quite not the stuff of rom-com legend, but Barbaro and Turner manage to create something real, and don’t just feel like two people cast in these roles because they were both good looking.

Without Barbaro and Turner, One Night Only would lose what makes it truly special. The plot is quite funny, but it’s also totally out there, and if you didn’t have these actors bringing a believable, largely straightforward romance to the screen, everything would’ve gone off the rails quick. Finding a sort of balance between being serious, romantic, and witty like Barbaro and Turner do in the lead roles makes this work. Otherwise, you’d just have Travis Braun throwing jokes at you with no rhyme or reason. 

Braun’s script features a delightful romance but almost goes too far or does too little elsewhere. Certain jokes, like one revolving around a teenage boy being babysat by Arya (Quintessa Swindell), Allie’s best friend, aren’t anywhere near as funny as Braun thinks. He also completely wastes Maya Hawke in the role of Malika. She’s pivotal for Owen’s development, but barely gets anything to do, and when you have someone as talented as Hawke, that’s just about the worst thing you can do. It’s pretty bad when a couple of the cameos are more memorable than this very notable actress, who honestly shouldn’t have agreed to take part in this for maybe a day. 

I’ll admit the cameos are fun, even though some of them kind of feel a little shoehorned in which is a contrast to the most effective ones that help this world feel more lived in. For example, Ben Marshall (72 Hours) is a funny guy, but his moment adds very little to the story and if you recognize him, can be kind of jarring. 

The most frustrating thing about One Night Only is Travis Braun’s inability to explore the sex mandate beyond the basics of telling viewers what it is and how it’s enforced. He could’ve added some goofy, but insightful commentary on sex, relationships, and governmental control over people’s bodies, but barely does. We don’t even get a real explanation as to why this mandate was put into place, it seems like population control, and yet audiences are kind of just left to wonder. I’m not asking for a complete tonal shift from Braun, this is a romantic comedy after all, but he could’ve played around with the concept more while keeping things lighthearted. 

Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner carry One Night Only and its hysterical, absurd narrative on their backs with their scorching chemistry and amazing performances. There are certainly better romantic comedies out there, but with Barbaro and Turner leading the way, this one is quite entertaining.

One Night Only will be released in theaters in the US and Canada on August 7, 2026, and and in UK & Irish cinemas on August 28, 2026.