| Two Night Stand tries to juggle the typical romantic comedy storyline with the typical indie film saving grace of limiting it to one location, two characters and a chance to rely on the dialogue. It is an indie romantic comedy, so the mix works even if it doesn't live up to the best of either genre. Megan (Analeigh Tipton) is a lonely, heartbroken, directionless young woman who has a roommate trying to get her off the couch. In a number of clever lines for Megan, she points out that she's lazy, so an online hook-up is easier. | | 2014
Directed by: Max Nichols
Screenplay by: Mark Hammer
Starring: Analeigh Tipton, Miles Teller
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She meets Alec (Miles Teller) on an online dating site and then he convinces her to journey from Manhattan to Brooklyn for the night. After a night of anonymous sex, the volatile Megan and condescending Alec wake up to an extreme blizzard that has them completely snowed-in. Trapped together for a day, they have no option but getting to know each other, but neither of them make much of an attempt to be nice or genuine. This act of the movie seems like the meat of the film, and the dialogue is okay but nothing great, and it's vaguely amusing but not all that funny. However it does serve as an introduction to the characters which helps the film out later on.
We get to know them just as they get to know each other (although the beginning gave us a pretty good feel for Megan) and both Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton have such natural charm that it makes it easy for us to want to get to know them. Tipton has quietly been making a name for herself as an actress ever since a top 3 finish on America's Next Top Model and she's always delightful, funny and relatable with an awkward charm. Megan fits very neatly into her wheelhouse. Sometimes Megan comes across as rude but Alec can be just as rude and crazier. Most of Teller's characters have been loud and larger-than-life with great comedic line delivery, but he really tones Alec down a lot and gives him a very relatable comedic charm.
After the getting-to-know each other chapter, the film moves into a battle-of-the-sexes with some fairly explicit sex talk, but before it ever goes too far, it breaks it up with comedy. Comedy is a pretty good cure for anything and whenever the film starts to feel like it's veering too far into boring or uncomfortable territory, we usually get a few laughs to pull the audience back in.
The film also then goes for the very typical romantic comedy structure which it never quite had before since the majority of the film was just the two characters in one location. I felt this is where the film really shined because although it definitely goes over-the-top, it just makes it funnier. The romantic pairing between Alec and Megan was done with so much comedy that it didn't matter that reality left the premise long ago. |
