The article examines the absurd premise of One Night Only, a romantic comedy set in modern New York where unmarried people may legally have sex only once a year. It argues that the film does not ignore this dystopian rule, but treats its implications mainly as a source of comic and romantic complications rather than seriously exploring its political, religious or human consequences.

The law is enforced through implanted tracking chips and colour-changing tattoos: single people’s marks are red, married people’s green, and they temporarily turn green on the annual permitted night. The technology supposedly detects dopamine and related sexual neurochemicals between people nearby, with violations potentially leading to arrest and exclusion from the annual event, though the film leaves major practical questions unanswered. The reviewer finds the film surprisingly funny and credits Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner’s chemistry, despite its deliberately baffling world-building.