One Night Only is set in an alternate world where premarital sex is only allowed each year on August 7th (this film’s US release date), from 7pm until 7am the next morning. Good job it’s not on February 29th!
Owen’s (Callum Turner) in a relationship, but their third ‘sex anniversary’, if you like, is coming up… except that on this occasion, girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke – The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping) wants to try some “How’s your father?” with another man.
Enter Allie… f’nar, f’nar, but for Monica Barbaro‘s (Crime 101) character, her friend has dumped her quickly for a bloke, leaving her on her own, although there is a stupid moment where she finds her sole condom stolen from her purse… because she left it on the bar! Who leaves their bag out of their sight??
From the trailer, this makes One Night Only look like a slam-dunk that the pair will hook up, but they do criss-cross an awful lot through the film, making you actually wonder if the pair will be doing the horizontal mambo.
There’s certainly good chemistry between Turner and Barbaro, feeling like some dialogue is made up on the spot, as if they were allowed to riff off the script at times, and that some of those lines were kept in.
I also did wonder why anyone would obey this stupid law, but at one point, we see the cops turning up a la Minority Report, because everyone has a chip inside them which gives it away. Also, condoms are mandatory, but all mine were stolen! I went to the police and told them, # “Nobody knows where my johnnies have gone…” #
And whatever happened to: “One up the bum, no harm done”?
One Night Only also features cameos from other actors who’ve fetaured in the same films from the director, such as from Anyone But You, Glen Powell is on LinkedIn, and Sidney Sweeney is on Tinder… as if!
Overall, though, I expected this to be terrible from the trailer, but it’s a lot better than expected, even if it’s not a great film. Also importantly, at 102 minutes, it doesn’t outstay its welcome, unlike Turner’s recentish Eternity, which almost felt as long as that. As such, it’s a shame this bombed in the cinema, since on a budget of $25, it’s only taken $23.2m at the box office.
And because it’s 2026, OWen’s mum is in a mixed-race relationship, although in this case, she’s Claire Standish from The Breakfast Club, and he’s Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Yes, it’s Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton!
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
One Night Only is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 102 minutes
Release date: August 28th 2026
Studio: Universal Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (4.6K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 6.5/10
Director: Will Gluck
Producers: Will Gluck, Jacqueline Monetta
Writer: Travis Braun
Music: Este Haim, Christopher Stracey
Cast:
Allie: Monica Barbaro
Owen: Callum Turner
Malika: Maya Hawke
Linda: Molly Ringwald
Rick: LeVar Burton
Bina Von Stauffenberg: Grace Dumdaw
Phillippe Von Stauffenberg: Duncan Jui
Uncle Ed: Frank Pando
Aunt Ana: Zuleyma Guevara
Jacinta: King Princess
Sebastian: Sebastian Quinn
Tejan: Okieriete Onaodowan
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.