For all the trashy romantic comedies that get released year after year, you can do worse than spend 90 easy minutes having a laugh with Two Night Stand. Whilst by no means of the imagination does the film expand upon the genre, change it in any drastic way or call on the audience for repeated viewings, it does what it says on the container; provides an entertaining film, if you are looking to just pass the time. Whilst many will tell you there is only one Miles Teller film you should watch this year (Whiplash), there is no reason to avoid Max Nichols’ Two Night Stand unless you are totally against cheap, witty humour, often base and about sex, filled with sexual stereotyping and guilty of only including some cliches of the genre. (Ed note. Not doing a great job selling this film – but it’s a laugh!)
Analeigh Tipton plays Megan, like a slightly unaware Emma Stone lookalike (without the direction of Stone), she meanders through this script with an ease and grace that really shouldn’t have come from this character. Having broken up with her fiancee and finishing pre-med at school, she sits around each day in her flat (which she shares with Gossip Girl star, Jessica Szohr) pretending to look for work and to find another place to live (because the boyfriend wants to move in with Szohr’s character). Of course, as with most young people, she ends up thinking about sex and sets up a dating profile on a website, which is pretty much the best impression of a straight, online version of Grindr. She finds it uncomfortable; this pretty, young, innocent thing is far to naive for these sorts of sites. Having bumped into her ex at a party, her flatmates decides now is good opportunity (whilst feeling at her lowest without a glint of self esteem) to propose getting a few drinks in her, finding a guy on the site and having a good old fashioned one night stand.
Enter Miles Teller as Alec; sweet but surprising and totally hiding something. The two meet, have a slightly awkward conversation and have sex. But the real story begins the next morning, when Megan tries to leave quietly. The pair argue after Alec accuses Megan of having done this before, she feels hurt and they scream at each other. When she tries to leave his apartment building, she finds that they are snowed in as a massive blizzard has pretty much cut everyone off. What are the pair going to do but put up with one another?
As with any typical romantic comedy at this point, awkwardness becomes playfulness, they connect (having gotten high), exchange sex tips and decide they
may as well make the most of it, if they are going to have to spend another day and night together until the snow has cleared. Of course, the flatmate has no issue with this (she gets to spend time with her boyfriend, no problem that her friend is forced to spend her time with a seemingly random guy from the internet). Megan floods the toilet, the pair break into next door’s apartment for food and a toilet plunger, they have sex again and it seems that perhaps this hook up could become something more.
The thing about Two Night Stand; it’s not a bad film. In it’s own right, it is charming and witty, the pair do have good chemistry (even if the script doesn’t give the audience a reason to care about either characters) and it does raise some interesting questions about female sexuality and the concept of hooking up. What is also really clear is the talent of Teller and Tipton because they manage to carry the film pretty much in it’s entirety; whilst most the film places them solely in the apartment, it doesn’t get boring or repetitive, which could have been the case.
There are many reasons someone may want to avoid Two Night Stand, but there are just as many to watch if you are looking for a funny film, which requires little concentration and stars two upcoming, clearly talented actors.
