The film stars Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski, Kyle MacLachlan, Ming-Na Wen and Robert Downey Jr.

Max lives in Los Angeles, where he has a successful career directing television commercials and is happily married to Mimi, with whom he has two children.

While visiting New York City, Max meets Karen by chance after missing a flight; circumstances keep bringing them together over the course of the evening, and they end up spending the night together.

According to the Los Angeles Times, his "first draft certainly wasn't the sort of script you'd want to give Bob Dole for bedtime reading.

The Times said "reading the scripts is like hearing two different versions of the same song, one by Eddie Van Halen, the other by Wynton Marsalis.

"We asked ourselves how middle America would respond to the casting," said New Line executive vice president Richard Saperstein.

"[1] The making of the film coincided with the peak of One Night Stand actor Robert Downey Jr.'s drug addictions.

Mike Figgis recalled Downey showed up to an introductory meeting "barefoot, high and brandishing a handgun.

[7] It has been reported that just days after this, Downey startled the crew by showing up to the film's set, and delivered what Figgis described as a "completely mind-blowing" performance.

"[8] Critics noted "creepy" similarities between the pale and underweight AIDS afflicted character Charlie and Downey's real life state.

[12] Variety's David Rooney wrote, "as fluid, loose and seductive as the languid jazz riffs with which director Mike Figgis underscores its moods, One Night Stand is a complex, almost existential take on relationships and reassessing life choices."

Rooney adds, "while it’s compromised by a far too tidy resolution that will leave many feeling cheated, what comes before is strong enough to ensure a critical support camp, and to put this New Line release across to enlightened urban audiences.

"[13] CNN's Paul Tatara said in November 1997 that, "One Night Stand [is] worth watching, despite the fact that it is wandering and nearly uneventful.

There is some truly terrible comedy with Snipes having to deal with the family dog sniffing his crotch when he returns home, and some even worse moments when he has to show his contempt for his bourgeois co-workers at a dinner party he throws with his wife.

[18] When ranking the 59 films of Robert Downey Jr. in 2021, Kyle Wilson of Screen Rant placed One Night Stand at 47th.

He said, "this drama doesn't really have the bite or sensuality one might hope, but it does boast some extremely good performances, most of all Downey, who brings a soulful sensitivity to the potentially cynical and awards-baiting role of the sick friend.