The “Purge”-ification of other movie genres has begun.

The 2013 dystopian action horror film “The Purge” introduced a concept that would serve what would become a franchise well for several big-screen installments and a short-lived TV series: One night per year in the United States, all crime, including murder, is legal — largely in the name of preserving the other 364 days as essentially crime-free.

The most recent movie, “The Forever Purge,” landed in theaters more than five years ago.

Enter the clever, quirky and lively “One Night Only,” which, as was obvious when its trailer debuted, offers a romantic-comedy take on the formula: In an alternate-reality America, premarital sex is legal for, you guessed it, but one night only per year.

Directed by Will Gluck (“Easy A”), working from a screenplay by Travis Braun, “One Night Only” stars Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner as a pair of New Yorkers looking to find love, however temporary it may be, on this night.

First, a little more about the premise, which, thankfully, the movie explains quickly and effectively: Largely in the name of keeping teen pregnancies low but also clearly for political reasons, the country has established the “Mandate,” which allows for this lone night of casual — or meaningful — sex among the unmarried. This is enforced by biosensors embedded into arms. Two sensors close together give off the same type of chemical readings and, well, Houston, we have a problem. Oh, and while sex is legal this single evening, the use of contraception is mandatory.

Rest assured, a horny Big Apple is ready for the festivities.

With that out of the way, Barbaro’s Allie is a hopeless-romantic single woman who makes a living singing parodies of popular songs for commercials. (We meet her in the recording studio as she’s desperately trying to bring something more artistic to a number aimed at selling a psoriasis medication, but her producer is not having it.) Turner’s Owen is in a committed relationship with Malika (Maya Hawke, “Stranger Things” — and the daughter of “The Purge” star Ethan Hawke) and owns a pizza shop.

We meet him there, as an older married couple arrives to take over pizza-making duties so he and the other younger folks can go off to have an awesome 12 hours. He is planning an especially memorable night with Malika, but over dinner — before the waiter can bring a “special drink” to the table — she informs him she is going to spend the night with someone else. She even encourages him to do the same, as, she says, he needs to get out of his box.

Allie, meanwhile, has gone out to a bar with gal pal Jacinta (King Princess), with whom she had a dud of an outing a year earlier. She’s quickly poised for another, as Jacinta meets her man for the evening while waiting to use the bathroom. She heads back home, where best friend Arya (Quintessa Swindell, “Black Adam”) is babysitting a particularly obnoxious 12-year-old boy for a cool $5,000 (surge pricing, baby) and encourages her to go back out there. Arya all but forces Allie into a rather revealing outfit that Barbaro wears for most of the rest of the movie.

It isn’t long before Allie and Owen have what could be called a “meet-puke.” (After being ditched by Malika, Owen ate two portions of expensive sushi instead of letting hers go to waste.) Allie might have gotten past this had Owen also mentioned he has a girlfriend.

Nevertheless, he, like she, is determined to make the most of the window, and the pair keeps crisscrossing as they attempt to hook up with someone else.

Before long, Owen has a chance with beautiful bartender Skye (Julia Fox, “Uncut Gems”), while Allie hits it off while sitting at a piano with the likewise talented Max (Andrew Burnap, “Snow White”). Unfortunately, both Allie and Owen need a certain in-demand item to accomplish their respective goals, and one such product becomes the immediate object of their desires.

Ultimately pairing up, they con their way into an exclusive party for singles, where the exotic Vivian (Ella Loudon) takes a liking to him and famous musician Ezra Strong (Charlie Gillespie, “Julie and the Phantoms”), whom Allie idolizes, is into her.

As “One Night Only” works its way to its predictable if also necessary conclusion, it does so a little clumsily, but overall the movie is solid work from Gluck, whose credits also include “Anyone But You” and “Friends with Benefits.” He keeps things moving along nicely, and the screenplay by Braun — which landed in the top spot of Hollywood’s famed Black List, which represents the best unproduced scripts of the year, before it was made — only occasionally lingers too long in a situation before moving on.

Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown,” “Top Gun: Maverick”) and Turner (“Masters of the Air,” “The Boys in the Boat”) make a cute pair, as Allie and Owen resist giving in to a mutual attraction, with her making fun of his ears (fair) and him giving her a hard time about her legs (not seeing it). High-concept premise aside, “One Night Only,” like any rom-com, depends on its primary pairing, and this one sings.

The movie also benefits from a secondary couple we didn’t know we needed: “Pretty in Pink” icon Molly Ringwald, as Owen’s mother, Linda, and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” mainstay LeVar Burton as her boyfriend, Rick. Trust that Linda and Rick will make the most of their night.

Although “The Forever Purge” was positioned as the final film in that series, franchise mastermind James DeMonaco is said to be developing a sixth. In the meantime, we’d welcome further twists on the one-night-only hook, as the one courtesy of “One Night Only” is executed fairly well.

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'ONE NIGHT ONLY'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for sexual material, language and brief nudity)

Running time: 1:42

How to watch: In theaters Aug. 7

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