One Night Only Director Will Gluck Leans Into the 'Sex Purge' Comparisons
The internet took one look at the premise of Universal's new romantic comedy One Night Only and dubbed it the "sex Purge." Director Will Gluck has heard it, and he is not running from the label.
Speaking to SlashFilm, Gluck said he is "very aware" of the online discourse and acknowledged the comparison as "rightfully so" (Deadline). Polygon put the same question to him in a video posted to its Instagram account on August 7 (Polygon/Instagram).
The parallels are easy to spot. One Night Only, now in theatres, is set in a dystopian fascist America governed by a "chastity mandate" — a law that makes premarital sex legal on exactly one night a year. The Blumhouse Purge franchise, which launched in 2013 and spans five films and a television series, is built on a nearly identical conceit: all crime, including murder, is legal for 12 hours once a year (Deadline).
Gluck told SlashFilm the film was never intended to be about the "sex Purge" angle. His focus was on exploring characters and their situations, and he said he expects blowback for that creative choice (Deadline). The tone, for its part, is lighter than anything in the Purge series — a romantic comedy wearing a dystopian coat.
The film stars Monica Barbaro, an Oscar nominee for A Complete Unknown and a standout in Top Gun: Maverick, alongside Callum Turner. Barbaro plays Allie, a singer; Turner plays Owen, a recently dumped pizzeria owner. The two New Yorkers meet on the one night the chastity mandate lifts (Deadline). The ensemble also includes Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, King Princess, Ziwe, Ben Marshall, Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton (Universal Pictures).
At the domestic box office — the United States and Canada — One Night Only opened in third place across 3,012 locations, earning $2.9 million on Friday (including $1.35 million in previews) for a three-day estimated total of $6 million (Deadline). Friday and weekend figures remain studio estimates until Monday's actuals are reported.
Deadline's own review of the film, published August 5, described the central premise as a gimmick and noted that any other similarity to The Purge is strictly coincidental (Deadline).
International audiences get their chance soon. The film opens in Brazilian theatres on August 20 and in Argentine theatres on August 27 (Universal Pictures Brazil; Universal Pictures Argentina).
For a romantic comedy, One Night Only carries an unusually provocative hook — and Gluck seems content to let audiences decide whether the "sex Purge" label sticks.
