One Night Stand

A married man with two kids has a one-night affair with a married woman during a weekend business trip to New York. Once back in LA, he contemplates his life and the consequences of his sinful act.

Comparing this film to FATAL ATTRACTION (8/10) or PHILADELPHIA (7/10) would be doing a great disservice to either one of those films, but nonetheless, the plot line doesn’t stretch far from their respective story lines. Marital infidelity and a close friend dying of AIDS are the main topics in this film. Unfortunately, Figgis resolves absolutely nothing in regards to the infidelity topic, and scores only a few points in respect to the horror of a man dying of this disease. The film concludes on an absolutely ridiculous circumstance, which doesn’t actually show anyone working through any of their complex issues.

The main problem I had with this film was its lack of honesty and realism in regards to the after-effects of a one-night affair. Nobody in this story seemed hurt, angry or despondent about the situation, while the better half of the film concentrated on a friend’s struggle with the fatal disease. Robert Downey Jr. played his part as the man dying of AIDS remarkably well, while the rest of the cast didn’t offer any mentionable performances. I found Kinski’s character weak in persona, but did like Ming-Wa’s strong and independent wife character (Mind you, I’ve had a thing for her since TV’s “The Single Guy”).

Overall, this film had very little entertainment value, no grand moral conclusions or solutions, and nothing exceptionally interesting to offer anyone. Figgis’ directorial style was cool at times, but he did overuse the “fade to black” shot during one too many internals. If you are interested in either subject matter of this movie, I suggest that you rent either one of the two films that I mentioned earlier on, and save yourself some time and money.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian