‘Two Night Stand’ Review

By Enrique Pedraza.

There are random films and then there’s “Two Night Stand.” Exactly as the title suggests, the film revolves around a second night stand between Megan (Analeigh Tipton) and Alec (Miles Teller). After meeting through an online dating system and sleeping together, they’re forced to stay inside Alec’s apartment in Brooklyn due to a terrible, gigantic snowstorm that paralyzes New York City. The young couple is then predictably obligated to talk to each other until the point where they decide to sleep together one more time as a “scientific” exploration towards the discovery of their virtues as lovers and see if they can improve their tactics.

Under the direction of Max Nichols, the film is a failed attempt to create a progressive, innovative comedy with authentic qualities. It tries awfully hard to convey regularity through random lines and thoughts that clearly want to be original but quickly fall into boredom and embarrassment. The characters and the situations they are exposed to are thoughtless and unnecessary with very little space to find relatable circumstances.

There’s a lack of trust towards the characters and it is heavily due to banally written personalities. There’s a scene in the film where Alec and Megan sit on a couch and begin to tell each other how bad they performed during sex the previous night. Almost vehemently, they describe their mistakes and the ways to improve their behavior, which could’ve been interesting and hilarious, but the scene runs excessively long and its full of teenage clichés that inevitably prevents the film from having clear opinions or an unique point of view. The majority of the film is filled with moments like that.

The lack of credibility is largely due to Analeigh Tipton’s performance as Megan. She is beautiful to look at and has a somewhat charming temperament, but her acting skills need training. Tipton is terribly shy in front of the camera and it is difficult to find her eyes and try to connect with her because most of the times she’s looking down or avoiding contact with her acting partner. This results incredibly distracting and quite annoying, making her lack of experience palpable. She’s an actress that’s too aware of her actions so there aren’t fresh. It is all predetermined, cold and tiresome.

In one of the worst segments of the film, Alex and Megan relive their sexual experience by consciously being aware of their movements and reactions. The result is an atrocious sex scene that cuts between different frame speeds, juggling with improbable intimacy that’s visually and emotionally uninspiring. It is all accompanied by a smash pop song that rapidly makes the audience judge the film editor while questioning the director’s imagination.

“Two Night Stand” is now playing in select theaters.