Movie Review: Two Night Stand (2014)

A slight romantic comedy, Two Night Stand tries something new but is hampered by a lack of substance.

In New York, Megan (Analeigh Tipton) is in a funk after a bad break-up with a long-term boyfriend. She joins an on-line dating site, and prodded by her roommate Faiza (Jessica Szohr), seeks a one-night stand to blow off some sexual energy. Megan connects with Alec (Miles Teller), who is looking for the same thing. They have sex at his place, but the next morning a snow storm shuts down the city and she is stuck at his apartment.

Forced to spend the day together, Megan and Alec are initially judgmental and antagonistic, but gradually warm up to each other.

Jumbling the formula into a sex-fight-love progression, Two Night Stand looks for an edge with two characters willing to just scratch a physical itch and call it one night, but then forced to meet the partner behind the coupling. In a mere 86 minutes director Max Nichols and writer Mark Hammer create two twentysomethings already accumulating adult luggage, and both Megan and Alec are rounded into people worth knowing through insecurities and prickliness.

But by defaulting to weed as a mellow-out agent and conversations dominated by clogged toilets and the mechanics of sex, Hammer demonstrates a limited capacity to stretch. Megan eventually reveals anxieties stemming from dashed expectations, only for Alec to counter with a really late yet de-rigour sucker-punch to derail the emerging romance. The final act involves police intervention and a prison cell, both real downers in trying to build a mood.

Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton are a notch better than the material and ride the ups and downs with admirable commitment. They find moments of chemistry, but not enough to counter the blizzard of mediocrity.



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