ONE NIGHT STAND
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING: **1/2 OUT OF ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 11/14/97 (wide) Running Length: 1:42 MPAA Classification: R (Sex, nudity, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski, Ming-Na Wen, Kyle MacLachlan,
Robert Downey Jr.
Director: Mike Figgis
Producers: Mike Figgis, Annie Stewart, and Ben Myron
Screenplay: Mike Figgis
Cinematography: Declan Quinn
Music: Mike Figgis
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
ONE NIGHT STAND, director Mike Figgis' follow-up to his critically acclaimed 1995 feature, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, is a peculiar combination of two disparate plot ideas and approaches. The first, a finely-realized portrait of a man and woman's striving to connect and find comfort in a culture that embraces emotional isolation, comprises the first thirty minutes. The other, a sometimes-tedious, often absurd soap opera about marital difficulties, is so much more shallow and uninvolving that it's difficult to believe that both are the product of one man's imagination.
ONE NIGHT STAND revolves around the relationships of two married couples. The film introduces us to Max (Wesley Snipes), our narrator, a highly successful TV commercial director who's in New York on business. While there, he stops by to see an old friend, Charlie (Robert Downey Jr.), who has been diagnosed as HIV+. Over the years, a rift has developed between the former buddies, and Max is eager to repair it. Back at his hotel, Max finds his attention arrested by a beautiful blond woman, Karen (Nastassja Kinski). After she points out an ink spot on his shirt, she invites him to her room so he can change his shirt. Later that night, after he misses his flight to L.A., he joins Karen at a concert. Afterwards, following an attempted mugging, they end up sleeping together. The next day, Max returns to the West Coast, where his lively, sex-starved wife, Mimi (Ming-Na Wen), is waiting for him.
That's the good part of the film. The scenes between Max and Karen are well-realized, with an interesting photographic style that captures both the characters' desperation and the eroticism of the situation, and a haunting jazz score composed by writer/director Figgis. Although both individuals claim to be happily married, it's plain that they both crave a closeness and connection that they don't have with their spouses. For Max and Karen, sex isn't an expression of passion or physical pleasure, but an attempt to plug an emotional void. They don't love each other, but they fulfill a need.
Then, following a caption that reads "One year later," ONE NIGHT STAND undergoes a precipitous drop in quality. Max, accompanied by Mimi, is back in New York because Charlie is dying. In his friend's hospital room, he unexpectedly encounters Karen, who turns out to be the wife of Charlie's brother, Vernon (Kyle MacLachlan). The next hour is filled with Charlie's seemingly-endless death, pregnant glances between Karen and Max, and an unbelievably dull dinner where the two couples engage in all sorts of pointless conversation. The "surprising" twist at the end, which is anything but unexpected, causes ONE NIGHT STAND to conclude on a sour, contrived note.
None of the character interaction in the film's second act comes close to matching that of the first act. And, while Robert Downey Jr. gives a powerful performance as the dying Charlie, it's not an original role. In fact, the bedridden, AIDS-inflicted individual has been used so often that it's in danger of becoming a cliché, and Figgis' interpretation of this character doesn't offer anything new. Charlie is basically just a plot device to reunite Max and Karen so they can complete their unfinished business.
Because Max is the narrator, he is the best developed of the five principles. Snipes, who occasionally mixes in a serious role amidst action pictures (take his fine work in THE WATERDANCE, for example), is believable as a successful-but-frustrated artist, although questions about his latent homosexuality are never answered. Kinski's Karen is largely one-dimensional, but the actress successfully uncovers her alter-ego's emotional core. Both Mimi and Vernon are underdeveloped, although the vivacious Ming-Na Wen gives a strong enough performance to capture our attention, if not our interest. Kyle MacLachlan, on the other hand, is boring.
After the emotional wallop delivered by LEAVING LAS VEGAS, the uneven, soap opera-ish presentation of ONE NIGHT STAND is disappointing. When Figgis' film is exploring emotional isolation, it rings true, but when it tries to mix and match couples and expand the Karen/Max relationship onto a larger canvas, it loses its focus. This is one of those rare movies where it might be worthwhile to leave partway through. Once the timespan fast-forwards fifty-two weeks, ONE NIGHT STAND has presented almost everything of value that it has to offer. After that, it's a slow burn to a predictable finish.
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@mail.cybernex.net
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