"One Night Only" review: Tame premise, wasted chemistry

The time before the grace period begins could be forgiven as banal character development. It is aggressively banal, Topel says. Allie is an aspiring singer with absurdly artistic ambitions for her commercial jingles. Owen owns a pizza place. These are placeholder traits. The movie keeps returning to Allie's music. It wants to solve her music problem. Sex is enough for the plot.

Hollywood is terrified of women who enjoy sex simply because it is natural, Topel notes. Owen is also unrealistically hesitant. Turner is good at playing sheepish despite his physique. He should not have to. The audience should be allowed to enjoy watching these gorgeous people get together. Every time their night gets going, the romp pauses for distracting nonsense. On the way to a sex party, Allie tells Owen about her favorite children's book. Condoms selling out makes sense. A search for condoms was funnier in 1997's "Booty Call."

Criminals take advantage of desperation. Allie debates the mandate with cops. This oversteps, Topel writes. The mandate is a good comedy premise. Braun and director Will Gluck do some solid world-building. Signage around the city both pro- and anti-mandate is visible. A politician confirms statistics that the mandate reduced teen pregnancy and STDs. Yet the Hollywood version erases whole swathes of people. Every couple seen fondling in the background is thin. The erasure of different sizes ignores how the mandate would probably equalize body types or promote tolerance.

This week, "One Night Only" enters a marketplace bereft of rom-coms. It will benefit like the mandate's exemption. Couples will probably go see it out of desperation, Topel says.