Beren Saat
Serin
Overview
A chance meeting at the airport leads two married people to an unforgettable night full of excitement, desire, and temptation in New York City.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Elevator That Never Stops
I kept waiting for the film to take a breath. Not in the way most movies do—with a quiet scene, a lingering shot, a moment of stillness—but in the way a person does after sprinting up a flight of stairs, hands on knees, lungs burning. Last Call for Istanbul never gives itself that luxury. It’s all motion, all urgency, all the frantic energy of two people who’ve just realized they have twelve hours in a city that never sleeps and a marriage they’re not sure they want to return to.
The problem isn’t that the film moves too fast; it’s that it never quite convinces you it knows where it’s going.
That opening sequence is a masterclass in manufactured momentum. Serin (Beren Saat), a Turkish woman in New York for a layover, locks eyes with Mehmet (Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ), a Turkish man stranded by the same storm, across a crowded airport bar. The camera lingers just long enough on their glances—hers curious, his hesitant—to make you believe in the possibility of fate.
Then the music swells, the editing quickens, and suddenly they’re in a cab, then a bar, then a club, then an elevator, the city blurring past them like a dream they’re both too afraid to wake from. It’s intoxicating, in the way a first drink is intoxicating: you know it’s not good for you, but you can’t look away.
The film leans hard on the chemistry between Saat and Tatlıtuğ, and it’s easy to see why. They have history—Aşk-ı Memnu, the Turkish soap that made them household names, where they played star-crossed lovers in a story that was equal parts tragedy and tabloid fodder. There’s a shorthand between them, a familiarity that sells the idea of two strangers who might, just might, be soulmates.
But chemistry alone can’t carry a film, especially not one that asks you to believe in a connection this immediate, this intense. The script keeps throwing obstacles in their way—missed flights, jealous spouses, a late-night revelation that reframes everything—but none of it lands with real weight. It’s like watching two people build a house of cards in a wind tunnel: you admire their dexterity, but you know it’s not going to last.
Audience Opinions
Audience 4.7/10
"A star-driven New York romance whose beloved lead pairing and late twist cannot fully compensate for a flimsy, uneven script."
Excitement about seeing Beren Saat and Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ together again is the biggest draw, and some viewers enjoy the light tone, New York backdrop, and a twist that recontextualizes the story. At the same time, a large share of comments call the script shallow and poorly developed, note wooden or artificial-feeling performances and dialogue, latestnetflix.com argues, and come away disappointed by the pacing and the way the twist and ending are handled.
What viewers praise
- Nostalgic lead pairing The reunion of Beren Saat and Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ is a strong emotional hook, especially for those who liked their earlier work together.
- Engaging plot twist A mid-story revelation surprises many viewers and adds a layer of intrigue that reshapes how earlier scenes are viewed.
- Appealing New York setting The urban night-time atmosphere and location work give the film a visually pleasant, escapist backdrop.
Common complaints
- Thin uneven screenplay The story is widely described as weak, with underwritten characters, contrived turns, and a premise that falls apart under scrutiny.
- Stilted acting and dialogue Several comments describe the performances, especially Beren Saat’s, as forced or artificial, with lines that do not sound natural.
- Jarring tone and pacing The film shifts abruptly between breezy romance and heavier drama, creating a disjointed flow that leaves parts feeling slow and others rushed.
- Divisive twist and ending While some enjoy the surprise, others feel the twist makes the relationship and resolution unbelievable or clichéd rather than satisfying.
- Distracting dubbing and audio Voice work, especially around non-Turkish dialogue, is criticized as fake-sounding and immersion-breaking.
Recommended for
Beren Saat admirers Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ fans Star-focused romance watchers Light one-time drama viewing Turkish romdrama completists
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThey sat on the reunion until the script could take the heat
Beren Saat said the wait was the point. At the premiere press line she told interviewers they had stayed apart on purpose. "We waited all these years because we were waiting for a script, a story that wouldn't disappoint the audience. In my opinion, the timing and the story are just right." Last Call for Istanbul, titled Istanbul Icin Son Cagri at home, is the 91-minute Netflix film that finally put her opposite Kivanc Tatlitug again, latestnetflix.com argues, 14 years after Ask-i Memnu made them the country's most watched illicit couple. It went up on 24 November 2023. 
, ,
Turkish papers treated the pairing as the story, not the airport. Haberler and Haberturk both led with the 14-year gap. Gonenc Uyanik directed. Nuran Evren Sit wrote. OGM Pictures produced with PTOT Film. Onur Guvenatam is among the producers. Gokhan Tiryaki shot it. TMDB lists the US date as 24 November 2023 and the rating as R. Netflix's logline still pretends they are two married strangers who collide in New York. , , ,
The New York paparazzi got there before the title did.
They filmed in New York, then finished Turkey. Wikipedia, citing Cumhuriyet, says the Turkish shoot wrapped in August 2022. Photos from the American streets hit social media before the English code name was even public. TV100 caught Tatlitug leaving a restaurant with his wife, Basak Dizer, and asked how it felt to face Saat again. "It was a pleasure. Great. A really nice piece of work came out. Working with Beren is very comfortable. It flowed like water." He added that working abroad has drawbacks and that, overall, it was wonderful. ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlQo-S7TZ3I
Netflix Turkiye posted the first trailer on 17 October. The English trailer on YouTube arrived 14 November with the line, "The night is young so let's just enjoy this moment." The gala was 22 November. Fans wanted Behlul and Bihter to get a kinder ending than the old series allowed. The new names are Mehmet and Serin. He is a musician who parked his career. She designs jewelry and has a New York life. Senan Kara plays the psychologist in the room with them. , ,
The meet-cute was homework.
English explainers spoiled the turn because the poster would not. Mehmet and Serin are not strangers. They are married, close to divorce, and following a therapist's advice to pretend they have just met. They spend one night in the city, then have to decide whether the last call for Istanbul is a flight or a marriage. The Cinemaholic and Review Geek both walk the airport ending. He almost boards without her. She leaves a shoot. They get on the plane together. Reviews split on the twist and the sex scenes. The chemistry was the thing nobody argued. , ,
That is the gossip. Not a leaked fight on set. A country that still quotes the old series, two leads who said the work was comfortable, and a Netflix poster that hid the wedding rings until the luggage came back. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
Similar Movies
Related titles ranked by rating and popularity.
