There are some startling things in "One Night Stand" but here's the most amazing aspect: it was directed by the same guy who made "Leaving Las Vegas." How do you follow up one of the saddest, most emotional, gut-wrenching dramas in recent memory? Maybe you rest for a while instead of taking on projects like this one. What Figgis saw in this bizarre tale of adultery is anyone's guess. The movie opens with Wesley Snipes (playing a confused TV ad director) talking to the camera. Why? Does he think he's in a Woody Allen movie? Due to an awkward set of circumstances, the married Snipes ends up sharing a hotel room with Nastassja Kinski. They start in separate beds, and end up in the same one. The guilty man goes home to his wife and family. After a night of sex with a strange woman, ol' Wesley could use a rest, but no, his wife jumps him like there's no tomorrow. She's played by Ming-Na Wen, who has one of the longest, loudest orgasms ever heard in a movie that doesn't star Nina Hartley. (You almost expect Snipes to look at the camera and say, "Holy cow, did you hear that?"). Then there's an odd subplot involving one of Snipes' friends, who is dying of AIDS. The doomed man is played by Robert Downey Jr., and he's really the best thing in the movie. Actually, his story is almost a movie in itself. Downey is also the only truly likable character in the film. Snipes' ad man is a jerk, and Kinski is a bore, even in the love scenes (maybe she should have taken lessons from Wen). Here's another strange occurrence. The ravishing Ione Skye ("Say Anything") plays a minor role as a party girl. Give her Kinski's part and the result might have been a more interesting film. Maybe. Nothing seemed to go right with this one. Hopefully, Figgis will get back on track and put "One Night Stand" behind him.
Review of One Night Stand
