Director: Max Nichols
Cast: Miles Teller, Analeigh Tipton, Jessica Szohr, Leven Rambin and Scott Mescudi
Rating: 2
What is the one thing people dread the most about a one-night stand? The one thing that threatens to negate the entire exercise? A prolonged morning after! Hollywood has made so many films based on the whole one-nighter turned romance that it could easily become a sub-genre unto itself. Two Night Stand straddles between the mush of usual romcoms and the conversational tone of the Before Sunrise series. It had the potential to really break the mould but instead serves up a generous dose of deja vu riding on the shoulders of refreshingly charming 20-something actors.
The film centers around Megan (Tipton), a recent graduate who is without a job and only recently broke up with her boyfriend of many years. Her roomie, like most of the Hollywood roomies, in her greater wisdom, suggests the usual breakup remedy: a no-strings attached arrangement. Megan, the ho-hum straitjacketed persona that she is, naturally scoffs at the idea. That is of course till she bumps into her ex with his new girlfriend. Megan then does what most of us did at some point into our excruciating singledom: Turn to the Internet!
Some harmless flirting with Alec (Teller) leads to them agreeing to a one-nighter at Alec's Brooklyn apartment. Armed with renewed confidence, Megan goes against her better judgment for a shack-a-thon, hoping that when the night is over, so would this experience. But the weather God always plays truant, no? If the rains in 90s Bollywood brought the leading pair together then Two Night Stand is ably aided by a blizzard that forces the two to the most unimaginable morning-after.
The initial awkward conversations lead to a more promising getting-to-know situation. Once that bit's taken care of, Alec suggests that they give each other honest feedback on their sexual encounter the night before. Now this is where the film had a chance to really break out from the clutter and make a more adult-friendly version of Before Sunrise. It is not often that one sees the lead pair of a Hollywood film openly giving sexual critique.
But here's where it starts to totter. Much like Megan and Alec's budding relationship, the film begins awkwardly, reaches a comfortable plane before starting to lose its way. In a rare occasion for Hollywood this year, it is the casting that saves the film. Tipton, best known for her crush on Steve Carrell in Crazy Stupid Love, works her career inexperience into the role of a simple yet complicated girl grappling with the vagaries of a recently-ended relationship that spurs her to tiptoe in an uncomfortable arrangement. Teller is stellar as Alec and has only grown since his Shailene Woodley outing The Spectacular Now. Their combined inexperience as actors makes their relationship inexperience more believable and therefore more interesting. Aided by some superb visuals and camera work that keeps the viewer hooked onto the actors (what else can you do in a blizzard when you're stuck at home?) the film makes you feel warm and fuzzy like the first few sip of hot chocolate. Then it goes down a rapid stretch of predictability, leaving one with a terrible sugar residue and a faint reminder of a chocolaty past. The film disappoints because it could've been so much more.
