Ah, the pleasures of the time loop comedy! This wacky sub-genre could easily have been a novelty deployed once or twice then heard of no more, but the genius of Groundhog Day almost single-handedly entrenched it in the zeitgeist. Harold Ramis’ 1993 classic spawned an ever-expanding array of stories involving protagonists who find themselves doomed to repeat the same time period – be it day, night, wedding ceremony or alien invasion– again and again.
Or could that be “blessed” to repeat it? While Bill Murray’s grouchy weatherman found himself trapped in a small town with crappy weather, Emily Browning’s protagonist Minnie in One More Shot can choose whether she wants to rewind time or keep moving forward. The narrative of Nick Clifford’s modestly enjoyable Australian film takes place at a New Year’s Eve party in 1999, attended by Minnie and several of her friends including Pia (Pallavi Sharda), who believes that pandemonium will erupt after midnight.
She’s right, but for the wrong reasons. It’s not Y2K that ruptures reality but – wait for it – a bottle of tequila that enables Minnie to time travel. Every time she takes a shot, she’s transported back to the front door, to the start of the night, inevitably greeted by her friend Rodney (Ashley Zukerman) and old flame Joe (Sean Keenan). Initially Minnie believes she’s just experiencing “really intense deja vu”, before coming to terms with the bizarre nature of her ability to wind back the clock.
The script (from Alice Foulcher and Gregory Erdstein, who helmed the sassy 2017 dramedy That’s Not Me) makes it clear that Minnie is no benevolent hero determined to right the world’s wrongs. She interprets the freak event as a justification to do a Julia Roberts from My Best Friend’s Wedding, setting out to destroy a romantic relationship between Joe and his new girlfriend (Aisha Dee, from Sissy and Safe Home). Joe was the reason Minnie attended the party, with the hope of restarting their relationship, or at least indulging in some carnal activity.
A series of revelations provide various ethical reasons for Minnie to reconsider her plans, opening the door for a pat moral finale that, thankfully, never really eventuates. Clifford prefers a more playful, frisky tone, presenting a world in which doing the right thing is just one option in an infinite number of pathways.
During its opening act, One More Shot feels like it’s treading water, fleshing out preliminary character development before the premise kicks in. It’s not badly staged but lacks zest and zeal; nothing pops. But things switch into higher gear when that bottle of booze becomes a sort of drinkable DeLorean, albeit with just one possible pitstop – back to the front door. Minnie always arrives there with a full bladder, sending her to the bathroom and into the space of a coke-snorting reveller (Hamish Michael). And just as Murray wakes every morning in Groundhog Day to Sonny & Cher’s I Got You Babe, and Natasha Lyonne hears Harry Nilsson’s Gotta Get Up a zillion times in Russian Doll, Minnie is hit with James’s toe-tappin’ track Laid every time the door opens.
Time loop movies often require substantial range from their lead actors; here Browning keeps it anchored with a strong and multifaceted performance, neither demanding our sympathies nor ignoring the possibility that Minnie may essentially be a decent person. After her initial shock, she decides to take her future (and her past) into her own hands, triggering a journey in which she’s by turn trapped and empowered, helpless and hopeful.
Visually, One More Shot is pretty bland; the characters party like it’s 1999 but the aesthetics of the film itself are pretty staid. A livelier party – like the one in Russian Doll – or a different location could have made it more exciting. There’s nothing tremendously exciting or distinctive about One More Shot – but on the other hand, how many films have you seen featuring time-travelling tequila? It’s pleasantly derivative.
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One More Shot is screening around Victoria as part of Melbourne international film festival – see here for dates. The film will later be available to stream on Stan.
