Midnight Sun
Directed by Scott Speer
Written by Eric Kirsten
Starring Bella Thorne, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Rob Riggle
Classification PG
91 minutes
Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger in the movie Midnight Sun.Ed Araquel/Entertainment One
Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger are stunningly beautiful and absolutely hilarious in a summer-romance parody that will have you laughing one moment and …hold on, we’re now being told that Midnight Sun is not, in fact, a parody. Rather, it’s a preposterous film so insufferably adorable and frightfully melodramatic that viewers will find themselves confused as to which reflex to stifle: The urge to howl, or the one to hurl. Thorne plays Katie Price, a housebound teen who suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum, a genetic condition making her gravely sensitive to sunlight. She’s home-schooled by a single father, played by a heroically straight-faced Rob Riggle. Metaphor alert: He’s a photographer with a darkroom. His photos and daughter develop in the dark. Katie comes out after sunset to play her guitar at a train station, where she meets Charlie – a likable swim-team stud and young Harry Connick Jr. lookalike next door. Katie can’t see him during the day, but tells him, “I’m free at night.” Did you catch the deep meaning there? The relationship is doomed, and so are the viewers. There are some things that should never see the light of day, and Midnight Sun is at the top of the list.
Brad Wheeler