Just for One Night: Irresistible Duo for a Wonky Film (review)

The alchemy between Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner constitutes the major asset of this dystopian romantic comedy not without charm but never lives up to its pitch à la The Purge

Just for one night. The intriguing pitch of this romantic comedy is entirely contained in its title. A dystopia in which the American government passed a law prohibiting all sexual relations before marriage… except for one night! The one in which the action of this new Will Gluck (Easy A, Everything But You…) takes place and where Owen and Allie will cross paths, falling madly in love with each other in the blink of an eye before, the basic principle of any romantic comedy, obstacles, clumsiness and misadventures of all kinds accumulate to push them away. Whereas, like two magnets, they can only end up finding each other.

We know the program well. Just for One Night seduces by its charm because it relies on what, once again, constitutes a central ingredient of any romantic comedy worthy of the name: the absolutely irresistible dog-cat alchemy between its duo of actors. Revealed as Joan Baez alongside Timothée Chalamet/Dylan in A Perfect Stranger (2024), Monica Barbaro lights up and dynamites the screen for her first leading role in a studio film. And she finds a perfect relay in the naturalness and quiet charisma of Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts) impeccable as a young man weakened by a breakup which could not have come at a worse evening, his partner (Maya Hawke) having decided to sleep with another.

An undeniable charm therefore, all the more so as Gluck weaves a formidably effective scenario in the management of the estrangements and rapprochements of the two lovebirds. And yet we remain hungry. Because although he plays it up in his twists and turns, Gluck really should have gone further in what his opening pitch to The Purge means and implies. Would have benefited from venturing into a societal and political terrain that is anything but far-fetched when we know precisely the propensity of authoritarian regimes to want to regulate people’s sexual lives. A little more of Handmaid’s Tale would not have harmed this Just One Night where Gluck never really seems to dare to confront directly the avenues and reflections that his subject opens up. Like his bias to never tackle the question of the representation of nudity head on (he even explained that he voluntarily cut everything during editing, certain that this would take the spectators out of the story…) yet at the very heart of his remarks which testifies to a latent puritanism that is completely off topic. Damage

By Will Gluck. With Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke… Duration: 1h42. Released August 12, 2026