Just One Time (1999)

28% of critics liked it
(18 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(833 ratings)

Producer-turned-director Lane Janger also stars in this sexual comedy of manners about a woman who turns her groom-to-be's sapphic fantasies back on him. Just a few weeks before he's due to be married, fireman Anthony (Janger) decides that it's now-or-never time for his fantasy of making love to his… More Producer-turned-director Lane Janger also stars in this sexual comedy of manners about a woman who turns her groom-to-be's sapphic fantasies back on him. Just a few weeks before he's due to be married, fireman Anthony (Janger) decides that it's now-or-never time for his fantasy of making love to his fiancée, Amy (Joelle Carter), and another woman at the same time. Although she has repeatedly rejected such a scenario, this time an angry Amy agrees -- as long as Anthony will make love with her and another man at the same time. Soon, the couple find themselves going on "dates" outside their relationship. Anthony grudgingly allows Victor (Guillermo Diaz), a closeted, inexperienced college student who's had a crush on him since high school, to hang out with him and his firehouse cronies, hoping all the while that Amy will call his bluff. Amy, meanwhile, befriends Victor's pal Michelle (Jennifer Esposito), a lesbian furniture maker recovering from a recent breakup. Anthony's fellow firefighters adjust surprisingly well to their colleague's new friend, but problems ensue when Amy's expatriate parents show up early for the wedding, interrupting their daughter's tentative experimentation. Just One Time began its life as an eight-minute short that premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival; it was screened with the feature Ma Vie En Rose during that film's Canadian theatrical run and was later included in the collection Boy's Life 3. Principals Esposito, Carter, and Diaz reprise their roles from the short, while Janger shares screenwriting duties with Columbia film school alumna Jennifer Vandever in a novel arrangement that allowed them to collaborate on the first act and then split up, with his scribing the second act and her the third. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Lane Janger
Written By: Lane Janger, Jennifer Vandever
Genres: Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Oct 20, 2000 Wide
On DVD: May 29, 2001
Studio: First Look Pictures

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, Variety
In his feature debut, Langer continues to develop the trend begun by him as producer of I Think I Do (a better film), i.e. to construct a romantic comedy that blends gay and straight characters that co-exist in the same community; the result is uneven.
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle
Just One Time is a bedroom farce with little sex or humor, a weak premise and spotty acting. But it's mildly enjoyable anyway, thanks to a sneaky charm.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
Just One Time, with its breezy jokiness, is more sitcom than smut, but at 90 minutes without a laugh track or commercial break, it hardly holds its own against an average episode of Dharma and Greg or Friends.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
A mildly amusing comedy that blends straight and gay characters together
Shlomo Schwartzberg, Boxoffice Magazine
Just One Time began life as a sharply written short film, but as a feature it's unmemorable.
Ryan Cracknell, Apollo Guide
Had Just One Time been closer to 60 minutes in length, filmed in front of a barking studio audience and presided over by a guy named Springer, I might have been moderately amused.
Chuck Rudolph, Matinee Magazine
The dirty talk reveals motives that are unfashionably--dishonestly--square.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
It's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes, but not fantastic cinema either.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
This is not great, or risk-taking, filmmaking, but it does have a certain undeniable charm.
, E! Online
Jennifer Esposito spices up the cast as the all-knowing butch across the street. But a note to all hetero guys already pulling out their eight bucks: There are no scenes to write Penthouse about.
Stephen Tropiano, PopMatters
Just One Time is definitely onto something, but unfortunately, like Amy and Michelle, or Anthony and Victor, it never goes far enough.
Jon Popick, Planet Sick-Boy
A very enjoyable film that should entertain a wide demographic of movie fans.
Loey Lockerby, Nitrate Online
This isn't a groundbreaking film, or even a particularly memorable one.
David Noh, Film Journal International
The script is unremarkable, as is [Janger's] direction and acting, but winning performances save it from total negligibility.
Rod Armstrong, Reel.com
Instead of making people a little bit uncomfortable and poking holes in various sexual taboos, Janger's film floats past the eyes without leaving anything behind.
Rob Blackwelder, SPLICEDWire
A story like Just One Time is inevitable -- and welcome -- in an age of advanced sexual freedom and experimentation. But someone with more respect for women should take another whack at it.