MOVIE REVIEW: ONE NIGHT ONLY

 

Two New Yorkers search for love on the one night of the year when sex is legal.

Director: Will Gluck

Cast: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton, Michelle Hurd

Release Date: August 7, 2026

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Rated R for sexual material, language and brief nudity.

Runtime: 1h 42m

Review:

One Night Only could have been a fun, mindless rom com propped up by its two stars screen magnetism but framing the whole story in a dystopic, prudish near future makes the whole thing more perplexing than anything.  Will Gluck is familiar with this space, scoring a hit with 2023’s Anyone but You which share quite a few similarities with this film.  His films typically have an easy to watch flow that leans heavily on its stars charisma with Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner bringing plenty of it to this film.   The script offers up plenty of jokes and moments with some landing better than others but overall, it’s a breezy film that offers up a series of misadventures for our central couple to go through before they eventually end up together.  That part is never in question as the film plays out fairly predictably as these lovelorn individuals keep running into other before getting more and more interested in other the course of the night.  Barbaro and Turner are both solid throughout with both bringing a level of weirdness to their generally hot appearances.  They share some solid chemistry together even though the film keeps them apart for large swaths of time which is an odd choice since it makes their “deep” connection feel much less organic than it should by the time it’s all said and done.  It all makes for a fairly standard bit of rom-com silliness that’s entertaining until you think about the concept too much.  The concept offers up a myriad of questions that the film never really seems all that interested in engaging with.  It even wades into some strange acceptance of the whole concept as being romantic and even dropping the line, “Maybe the fascists were right about this one.”  It’s a weird message to end the film on that, for all its sexual romp trappings, seems to land on the government forced chastity side of the argument.  Will Gluck made his name with the Emma Stone vehicle, Easy A, which also dealt with morality, but that film was far more thoughtful in its approach while still working as a comedy, something One Night Only struggles to do. 

C

MOVIE REVIEW: INSIDE OUT 2

 

Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have been running a successful operation by all accounts. However, when Anxiety shows up, they aren't sure how to feel.

Director: Kelsey Mann

Cast:  Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser, Kensington Tallman

Release Date: June 14, 2024

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy

Rated PG for some thematic elements.

Runtime: 1h 36m

Review:

Inside Out 2 doesn't pack the emotional punch the original did but it still manages to find an inventive and relatable approach to the experience of going through adolescence.  Kelsey Mann takes over the directorial reins from Pete Docter and maintains the same wonderfully abstract and colorful style throughout.  Mann does manage to expand the world by introducing us to the basement where memories create florescent strings which make up Riley's sense of self and the Secret Vault where we get a fun mash up of 2D and video game animation.  The new settings provide plenty of eye candy and their own brand of distinctiveness from the original which is refreshing.  Likewise, the new emotions' character designs are familiar but more exaggerated than the original group led by Anxiety who looks like a mutated Fraggle Rock Muppet.  Amy Poehler again voices Joy and leads the majority of the film with her endless exuberance and optimism.  There's more to Joy's personal journey this go around which gives her more depth and allows Poehler to do more than just be endlessly optimistic.  Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black also return as Sadness and Anger with both delivering solid work again.  Tony Hale and Liza Lapira take over for Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling as Fear and Disgust with admirable ease as the characters get screen time this go around as the quartet trek back to home base.  Maya Hawke and Ayo Edebiri join the cast as Anxiety and Envy with Hawke bring the perfect sense of neurotic, anxiousness to her character.  Hawke get a lion's share of the newcomer's spotlight and her exchanges with Poehler in the opening and finale really shine.  They manage to bring the story together from different ends of the spectrum to its complicated and relatable conclusion although the story toys with larger ideas such as psychical maturation and everything that comes with that but pulls back to focus on the angst.  Its a safer choice and possibly something a sequel would deal with but that doesn't detract from the overall quality of Inside Out 2.

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: MAESTRO

 

On the verge of securing a golden opportunity, American conductor Leonard Bernstein begins a tumultuous relationship with actress Felicia Montealegre, upturning their lives.

Director: Bradley Cooper

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman

Release Date: December 8, 2023 

Genre: Drama, Music, Romance

Rated R for some language and drug use.

Runtime: 2h 9m

Bradley Cooper's Maestro contains all the trappings of an awards contender but some strangle choices in this biopic leave you feeling disconnected from the story's central character.  Cooper stars and directs the film with a tangible sense of energy on both sides of the camera.  His direction is steady and confident particularly in the open half which he shoots in black and white while having characters exchange dialogue in quick fire succession.  It gives the film a fun, old school look and feel as we are introduced to Bernstein after his debut.  Cooper clearly studied his subject to great extents to deliver a level of mimicry in an attempt to capture Bernstein's speech patterns and mannerism with its effectiveness varying from scene to scene.  Capturing such a large persona is a huge undertaking and Cooper can't quite find the right mix resulting in a uneven performance which never finds the emotional center of the character.  Carey Mulligan fares far better and practically steals the show as Felicia Montealegre with a more nuanced and subtle performance.  As a result we get far more insight into Mulligan's character than we ever do with Cooper's Bernstein.  A handful of sizzling sequences between the two prove to be the high points during the film runtime which feels rushed as it spends very little time on Bernstein's work or his impact.  Its a strange choice which leaves the central character feel more like a supporting player in his own story with Mulligan serving as the film's beating heart.  Cooper does deliver a rather impressive performance of Bernstein conducting in a sweaty but passionate sequences which gives us more insight into his love of music than any other portions of the film.  The energy and passion seeping through that sequence leaves you wondering why the film doesn't bother to explore it in great detail which ultimately leaves Maestro a well intentioned but misguided biopic.

B-