One More Shot: It’s Like a Hot Tub Tequila Groundhog Time Machine Friends Episode

By John Kirk

Rating: B

With an unoriginal, yet still entertaining time travel motif, One More Shot is a quirky and awkward Australian romantic comedy about Minnie (Emily Browning) and the sad state of her personal life.

An anesthesiologist, all Minnie does is work. She never socializes, sleeps on her friends’ pull-out couch, and never takes responsibility for her decisions.

It’s 1999, New Year’s Eve just as the Y2K fear sets in, and Minnie reluctantly goes to a friend’s party, armed with a bottle of tequila. She learns an old flame, Joe (Sean Keenan), is also there, with a new girlfriend no one told Minnie about.

Minnie (Emily Browning, center) and pals in One More Shot

When she discovers that the tequila she brought has the unique property of taking her back in time to the start of the evening with every shot, Minnie has to decide what she should do with her new-found power.

This leads to a series of reckless and chaotic decisions that, aside from humourous outcomes, also allows Minnie some sort of growth.

Of course, Minnie’s growth, is both predictable and formulaic. But there is the fantasy trope in this story that never fails to command attention. To wit: what if we could go back in time and change something?

I’ve been a big fan of Emily Browning ever since her role as Baby Doll in 2011’s Sucker Punch. If there was ever a movie that required the complete suspension of disbelief, it was that visual extravaganza with a soundtrack that couldn’t be beat. But it was also a look into another world with no limits.

Minnie has something of that character in her, in that consequences mean nothing in the pursuit of ambition. She throws caution to the proverbial wind, spurred on by her faith in the tequila that takes you through time.

But, speaking of soundtracks, if there was anything that was missing from this film, it would be heavier 1990s soundtrack. It starts off with a great promise with Dreams by The Cranberries, and there’s Laid by the band James (fans of American Pie will remember that as a signature song, covered by Matt Nathanson)). But after that, very little. Since the story is set in 1999, a ripping musical accompaniment would have added an extra nostalgic energy to the film. Heck, we remember the hits from Hot Tub Time Machine.

While the gags are good and the escapades that Minnie’s time-jaunts get her into are funny, it could have been funnier. There were plenty of opportunities for this to really drive home the idea that Minnie is throwing caution to the wind. More zany slapstick was needed. I really wanted to laugh at this film, but I wanted belly laughs.

Still, the characters are entertaining and even delightful. Everybody has a friend like Rodney (Ashley Zukerman) who somehow manages to get everything despite an absence of virtues. Minnie’s best friend Flick (Anna McGahan) is a study in contradiction, torn between helping her best friend out while also placating her significant other, Max (Contessa Treffone) who can’t stand Minnie.

While subdued (in other words, I would have enjoyed learning more about them), there was a lot of chemistry in the cast that had a Friends vibe to it, which definitely matches the setting of the film. Very ‘90s and full of people you can imagine having fun with at the turn of the Millennium.

Previous films that have used the time warp motif like Groundhog Day or, my personal favourite, Hot Tub Time Machine, had an intensity and a level of whacky comedy that fit the idea that going back in time allowed you to “fix” mistakes by making things worse. There are moments in this film that approach that level but fall short of fully delivering on the comedy.

One More Shot is a film that’s quirky, but needs to be hilarious. It has flawed characters who could have made more mistakes, but in the end, you know you want them to fix everything. It has funny moments, and there is a welcome twist at the end. But all in all, this film, while cute, needed to be funnier.

Maybe if we all had a shot of the time-travel tequila?

One More Shot. Directed by Nicholas Clifford. Cast: Emily Browning, Aisha Dee, Sean Keenan, Hamish Michael, Anna McGahan, Contessa Treffone, Pallavi Sharda, Ashley Zukerman. One More Shot is released on VOD December 12.