One Night Stand

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

A three-act film that is one part intelligent moviemaking and two parts contrived, heavy-handed writing. Figgis's One Night Stand attempts to examine adultery from a thoughtful, mature perspective but quickly descends into a superficial glimpse of detestable characters that skirts the emotional fallout of infidelity. Complacent LA television ad director Max (Snipes) and introspective scientist Karen (Kinski) meet in New York, sleep together and promise to forget the whole affair. They don't though, and their tryst haunts them and their marriages. They meet again a year later when Max travels back to New York to visit a friend, Charlie (Downey, Jr.), who is dying of AIDS. Coincidentally, Charlie is Karen's brother-in-law. Figgis, a musician turned filmmaker, has put together a rich jazzy score, however.