''The One'' is a 2011 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film produced, written and directed by

Caytha Jentis Caytha Jentis is an American writer, producer, director and filmmaker. Jentis' feature films include ''Bad Parents'', '' And Then Came Love'' and the coming out film ''The One'', her directorial debut. She is the creator and director of ''The Othe ...

, in her directorial debut. It stars

Jon Prescott Jon Prescott (born August 10, 1981) is an American actor. Early life He was born in Mountain View, California, but raised near Portland, Oregon. Prescott has two brothers, and a sister. He attended Emerson College in Boston. After college he ...

, Ian Novick and

Margaret Anne Florence Margaret Anne Florence is an actress, singer, and model based in New York City. Margaret Anne has been featured in major motion pictures, television, independent films, and on the New York stage. She frequently appears in national and internati ...

. The film premiered at the Philadelphia CineFest on April 8, 2011, and was also screened at the

Frameline Film Festival The Frameline Film Festival (aka San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival) (formerly San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) began as a storefront event in 1976. The first ...

in June 2011, and at the

Philadelphia QFest Philadelphia QFest was founded in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. It was given its current name, QFest, in 2009. One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymond ...

, in July 2011. It had a limited theatrical release on October 7, 2011. Fox Meadow Films, owned by Jentis, produced the feature film. Jentis said she wrote the screenplay "after spending several nights with friends discussing true love", and it was the fastest script she had ever written.

Plot

Daniel and Tommy met in college and played lacrosse together, and Tommy has been crushing on Daniel ever since. The film opens with Tommy, who has since come out, and Daniel unexpectedly meeting one another in a bar and reminiscing over their college years. They end up sleeping together after leaving the bar, and the next morning, Daniel announces he is engaged to Jen. Even though he has feelings for Tommy, he is determined to bury those urges and go ahead with the wedding. Later, when Tommy runs into Daniel and Jen at the gym, Daniel reluctantly introduces Tommy to Jen, and they hit it off. Tommy then schemes to get Daniel alone by inviting him to a reunion of college alumni, but when he arrives, Daniel discovers it was a ruse, and instead, it is an intimate country getaway with just the two of them. The pair are falling deeper in love, but Daniel also loves Jen, so he has to make a choice and decide who will be 'the one'.

Cast

as Daniel * Ian Novick as Tommy *

as * David Albiero as Toby * Collin Biddle as Dr. Wilson * Michael Billy as Stephen

Release

The film premiered at the Philadelphia CineFest on April 8, 2011, and then was screened at the

San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival The Frameline Film Festival (aka San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival) (formerly San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) began as a storefront event in 1976. The first ...

on June 25, 2011. It then moved on to the

on July 10, 2011, and had a limited theatrical release on October 7, 2011. It was released on DVD and VOD on October 18, 2011, and then started airing on streaming services on November 28, 2016.

Critical reception

The ''

Gay City News ''Gay City News'' (stylized as ''gcn'') is a free weekly newspaper based in New York City focusing on local and national issues relating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It was founded in 1994 as ''Lesbian Gay New Y ...

'' said in their review the film is likeable, despite "being a bit one-note". They said director Caytha Jentis shows "promise here...by making fine points about masculinity and identity before delivering a nice appropriate ending". In conclusion, they said Novick's performance is "particularly ingratiating", while Prescott was "too stiffly and always looked uncomfortable". David DeWitt wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' there is no chemistry that develops between the actors; "they’re just two guys speaking and pausing with grossly melodramatic weight". He was especially displeased with Prescott, saying he only "offers a face screwed up with discomfort in scene after scene after scene". DeWitt also said the ending of the film was "flatly rendered" as well. Raymond Murray from ''

QFest QFest, formerly known as the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (HGLFF), is a nonprofit organization based in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting the media arts as a tool for communication and cooperation among diverse communities by presentin ...

'' praised the movie as a "refreshingly funny story with witty dialogue and believable characters". ''Gay Celluloid'' also criticized Prescott's performance saying it was "too forced and somewhat stiff" that "renders the chemistry between him and Novick...all too one-sided". Their review had kind words for Margaret Anne Florence as being a "pure joy throughout", and for Jentis too, saying she "realistically illustrated the love that one man holds for two people of differing sexuality and that of its heart-rendering consequences". '' The Advocate'' wrote in their

blurb A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book, and are now also fou ...

for the DVD, that Jentis's film was "sweet and sturdy and refreshingly full of surprises".

References

External links

* *
The One
' at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

*
The One
' at

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...