Dating in the digital age of Tinder and OkCupid is, as we well know, quick and easy. Sexual inhibitions are shed as fast as lacy innerwear, and in the here-and-now of heat-and-serve passion, not much thought goes into the morning after the night before. Even exchanging surnames is superfluous in the slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am world of one-night stands.
Two Night Stand begins as a one-night stand between two likeable characters, Alec and Megan (Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton), but stretches it, with meteorological and other contrivances, to see where it goes. The premise is interesting, and if scriptwriter Mark Hammer — and rookie director Max Nichols — had fleshed things out a bit, it may have been possible to overlook the artifices they invoke to set up that exploration. But Two Night Stand never hits those high notes.
It’s New Year’s Eve in New York, arguably America’s most buzzing city. Twenty-something Megan, jobless, loveless and alone in her sister’s pad, overcomes her inhibitions sufficiently to dip her toes (and other body parts) in the shallow waters of online dating. But after a night of passion, her attempt to slip away from Alec’s apartment is check-mated by a monstrous snowstorm. Thrown together, the two attempt to overcome their awkwardness-induced hostility. In the absence of trust, they first have to tip-toe around the minefields of their minds. With the help of some psychotropic substances — and the thrill of a break-in into a neighbour’s apartment to retrieve a toilet plunger (I’ll say no more) — they loosen up sufficiently to constructively critique each other’s performance the night before. Predictably, they tumble into bed again, and are better lovers this time around.
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It is in these fleeting get-acquainted frames that the screenplay briefly crackles with humour. But Nichols quickly loses the plot again, and opts for over-the-top ludicrous twists to forcibly infuse some drama to an increasingly flaccid narrative. In the end, the film is as frivolous as the premise that underlies one-night stands — satisfying enough in parts like a quick romp in the hay but nothing endures, not even the whiff of remembrance. Let’s just say the earth didn’t move for me this time…
Genre: Sex-laced rom-com
Director: Max Nichols
Cast: Miles Teller, Analeigh Tipton
Storyline: A snowstorm in New York stretches a one-night stand — and the script’s credulity
Bottomline: A film as frivolous as the premise that underlies one-night sexual trysts