“One Night Only” director Will Gluck doesn’t want you to overthink it.
The filmmaker has been fielding a lot of inquiries about the premise, logic and loopholes of his new movie, a raucous romantic comedy about the one night a year where premarital sex is legal. (Think “The Purge,” but for banging instead of murder.) Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) plays Allie, an aspiring singer who channels her talent through embarrassing jingles in drug commercials. Callum Turner (“Eternity”) portrays Owen, a pizza shop owner whose long-term girlfriend decides she wants to sleep with other people on this holy night. The two strangers keep running into each other during 12 hours of messy mayhem in New York City.
Gluck is aware the movie’s setup is sparking more questions — Why does the ban exist in the first place? What happens to people who break the law? How, exactly, is the government even tracking who’s getting it on? — than answers. But he maintains the particulars of this reality aren’t really the point.
“You can’t really describe this movie,” Gluck says. “[The cast] goes on talk shows and spends 80% of the time explaining the rules of the world, and that’s not what the movie is about. We have to just let people see it. That’s the best tool we have, especially for something that’s this crazy.”
