{"id":572874,"date":"2026-08-18T16:26:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572874\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:26:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:26:29","slug":"even-a-james-bond-contender-cant-save-this-passion-free-romcom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572874\/","title":{"rendered":"Even a James Bond contender can\u2019t save this passion-free romcom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sarah<\/p>\n

Review by<\/p>\n

Sarah Watt<\/a><\/p>\n

Film reviewer\u00b7New Zealand Listener\u00b7<\/p>\n

17 Aug, 2026 06:00 PM2 mins to read<\/p>\n

Sarah reviewed for the Sunday Star Times until 2019. After a career change to secondary school teaching, she now she works in alternative education with our most disadvantaged rangatahi.<\/p>\n

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Failure to fire: Allie (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner) have one night to make a match. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

One Night Only, directed by Will Gluck, is in cinemas now.<\/p>\n

Imagine the US government doing something as controversial as enforcing a law that controls how citizens use their bodies.<\/p>\n

\n Writer-director Will Gluck (Anyone But You, Friends With Benefits) has spun this not-so-outlandish notion into One Night Only, an
\n unfunny and unerotic romcom that posits a near-future dystopia in which unmarried Americans are permitted to have sex only one night a year.\n <\/p>\n

Pizza chef Owen (Callum Turner) takes his girlfriend to a fancy restaurant intending to make a romantic evening of it, except she dumps him to use her hall pass with another man. Left wandering the frenzied New York streets as couples everywhere start making out in public as if just released from prison, Owen bumps into Monica Barbaro\u2019s similarly unattached Allie. They meet-cute in a decidedly not-cute fight over NYC\u2019s last remaining condom (the law prosecutes anyone who doesn\u2019t use protection), then spend the entire running time will-they-won\u2019t-theying until the film\u2019s predictable climax (ha ha). It\u2019s not that one is too prudish to enjoy a movie predicated entirely on people getting laid (see this ecstatic review of The Invite<\/a> for a better option); it\u2019s that this fantasy is so flaccid. The dull dialogue and passion-free performances never spark.<\/p>\n

Shamefully, a story which explicitly acknowledges how crass it is (characters literally talk about \u201cthe most unromantic night of the year\u201d) still falls into every Instagram influencer\u2019s trap. Gluck exploits the myriad charms of the talented, colt-legged Barbaro, who shone as Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown, by forcing her to sing here too (delivering the movie\u2019s one sweet moment), and dressing her in only a handful of sequins and impractically high heels. Both Owen\u2019s and Allie\u2019s other suitors are all pectorals and tight undies. But where\u2019s the emotional investment if the leads are beautiful people who would have no trouble finding a mate the other 364 days of the year?<\/p>\n

British actor Turner (The Boys in the Boat) should be having quite a moment: he recently married pop superstar Dua Lipa, and is currently the bookies\u2019 favourite to become the next James Bond. Alas, so dire is this showcase, it\u2019s hard to see him leaving anyone feeling shaken or stirred. <\/p>\n

Rating out of five: \u2605\u00bd<\/p>\n

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