What would the country look like if the government outlawed premarital sex for all but one night a year? That’s the basic question that One Night Only asks as it follows Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro’s characters in a romantic comedy hitting the 2026 movie calendar on August 7. The reviews are in, and while many critics have trouble getting past the “creepy” concept, they’re generally in agreement that the leads — Barbaro in particular — are enjoyable to watch.
Comparisons to The Purge are inevitable in the newest film from Will Gluck, whose last movie, Anyone But You, had an impressive box office run despite negative reviews. Callum Turner has also been making a name for himself with projects like Eternity and The Boys in the Boat, while Monica Barbaro was Oscar-nominated for A Complete Unknown. However, according to Marya E. Gates of RogerEbert, all that goodwill is lost on a script that merely nods at the “horrors” of our reality with a romance that falls flat. Gates rates One Night Only a 0 out of 4, writing:
