Director: Max Nichols
Starring: Miles Teller, Analeigh Tipton, Jessica Szohr, Kid Cudi, Leven Rambin
Certificate: 15
Before this review gets started, it’s best to say I am probably not the target audience for this spiky romantic comedy. Teens and twentysomethings may latch onto it like a classic rite of passage, whereas everybody else could feel a bit left out of the rapid fire battle of wits between a young couple in the aftermath of a brief sexual liaison. Having said that, it has enough redeeming features for all, so let’s get busy with the juicy details.
The story is simple. Megan (Analeigh Tipton) encounters Alec (Miles Teller) on an online dating site, and after the shortest courtship in movie history they wake up together in his apartment. Lust turns to hate and before long she flounces out. There’s one problem – a blizzard has taken over the city and the pair are forced to spend a further twenty-four hours together. This leads to a lot of conversation, a touch of calamity and – of course – a connection being established.
Tipton and Teller are a well-matched combo. She reminded me of Emma Stone and Aubrey Plaza. He was like Sean Penn channelling Jonah Hill. Both share the same attributes of being irritating and over-demonstrative, yet ricocheting off each other they get on just fine. You believe in them as a potential couple and much of Mark Hammer’s smart arse dialogue is handled smoothly, even though it gives you a headache at times via the constant references and sitcom-style one liners (“You are an asshole in so many languages!”). The main niggle I had was to do with overall plausibility. Tipton’s somewhat breathtaking proposition of Teller within seconds of an online chat is surely too fast, even for this generation. And as for roommate Jessica Szohr encouraging her to go off on her own and trawl the web for a lay (“You have tits and the internet!”)…? I guess they do things differently in New York!
Once the couple are stuck together, the film has to find things for them to do. When it relaxes and breathes a little it works quite well. Otherwise, there’s some unnecessary mucking about, such as breaking into a neighbour’s apartment to borrow a plunger when they could have just asked more people, and a fun but highly questionable resolution. By far the best scene is when the two compare notes on each others’ performance.
The soundtrack (from Matthew and Neil de Luca) is surprisingly good, featuring a fair amount of electronica. This suggests maybe the movie isn’t as cutting edge as first thought and that perhaps director Max Nichols aimed for a Eighties-style BREAKFAST CLUB vibe. People in their twenties having so-called “mature” conversations ain’t everyone’s idea of a good night in, but on the whole TWO NIGHT STAND stays watchable and a guilty pleasure of sorts. Not so much a case of Don’t You (Forget About Me) as Don’t Tell Anyone (I Was Here).
[usr=3] TWO NIGHT STAND is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 23rd March.
