ONE NIGHT ONLY
(15) 102mins
★★☆☆☆
IMAGINE a world where it was illegal to have sex outside marriage – apart from one day in 365.
And even then, you legally had to use protection, otherwise you would be thrown in jail.
Sex outside of marriage is illegal except for one day in One Night Only Credit: Alamy
Callum Turner stars as pizza shop owner Owen Credit: Alamy
Oh, and you’re also all given an Orwellian wrist tattoo that goes from red to green when the 12-hour timer begins.
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There would be riots on the streets, right? Well, not in this shiny film, where young, glamorous single people in the free world seem fine with these rules.
In fact, they get glammed up with a pack of condoms in their pocket and try to have sex with someone before the clock strikes 12.
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They include stunningly beautiful jingle-singer Allie (Monica Barbaro) who dons a barely-there glittery dress to impress a potential suitor.
But bafflingly, she is soon eating dumplings alone while her friend hooks up with a man she met in the queue for the loo.
Meanwhile, pizza shop owner Owen (Callum Turner) has planned a romantic evening with his girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke).
There, she tells him she’d rather bed someone else.
So Allie and Owen spend a lot of time walking the streets of New York while just about everyone snogs in doorways, in cars, and on train platforms.
Their paths cross regularly, bumping into each other throughout the night in various, funny ways around the city.
They even have a physical fight over a $200 condom.
With their clear chemistry, there’s some classic rom-com push and pull between the two. It’s directed by Will Gluck, who knows the rules of rom-coms with his 2023 film Anyone But You.
But sadly, this never hits the same stride.
It gets itself into such a pickle with the details of this dystopian world where the US government is in charge of the whole of the country’s sex lives.
You can be thrown in jail if you consensually hook up with someone.
That dark, potentially terrifying storyline could be a whole film in itself.
But here, it’s just sprinkled in occasionally.
There are a few lightweight political conversations between couples and police chasing naked people who have broken the sex rules — and that’s about it.
There are some funny moments, and its two charismatic leads most certainly save this strange love story.
But finally the huge plot holes and the desperately flat ending become a big turn-off.
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THE DOG STARS
(15) 118mins
★☆☆☆☆
Ridley Scott seemingly didn’t have much energy to put into this painfully dull film Credit: PA
SIR Ridley Scott has directed some of the greatest films ever, including Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator.
But at 88, his latest offering gives the impression he didn’t have much energy to put into this painfully dull, supposed disaster film.
Based on Peter Heller’s book, the story follows Hig (Jacob Elordi), who survives a flu pandemic that kills most of the world’s people.
He and fellow gun-toting survivor Bangley (Josh Brolin) live in an abandoned airport with dog Jasper.
Hig spends his days flying in a plane, trying to find other survivors, and stumbles across Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her dad, Pops (Guy Pearce).
Together, they try to find more life. To say the film is slow is an understatement.
After 20 minutes of watching Elordi fly around in an old plane looking out over open horizons, you’re praying for zombies. Or aliens. Or dinosaurs.
Just something, anything, to break up the monotony. There’s little to no chemistry among any of the cast, a strangely misjudged horror sequence very late, and even the violence sequences are like watching a basic computer game.
I WANT YOUR SEX
(18) 90mins
★★★★☆
Olivia Wilde as Erika Tracy and Cooper Hoffman as Elliot in raunchy movie I Want Your Sex Credit: PA
FRESH from her excellent turn in The Invite, Olivia Wilde is back on the big screen with a hilarious and hypnotic performance.
An explosive beginning sees young art assistant Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) wearing women’s underwear and a bloody face, stumbling out to a swimming pool that has a naked artist, Erika Tracy (Wilde), floating lifelessly in it.
Rewind to how the pair first met, when Elliot interviews for a job to work for Erika.
He’s naive, trusting and in a loveless relationship with a glum, uninterested girlfriend (Charli XCX).
Erika sees Elliot as fresh meat and soon makes him her sex slave. She gets him addicted to her bizarre S&M games, while spanking and demeaning him.
It’s laugh-out-loud excruciating, as Hoffman plays the wide-eyed, love-struck Gen Zer perfectly.
And there’s a superb comic performance from Mason Gooding as a judgmental gay assistant. Directed by Gregg Araki, this raucous sex comedy is both stylish and sassy.
The two leads make it endlessly watchable, but it’s Wilde who clearly relishes this role.
