At first glance you'd think Midnight Sun is just your typical cheesy rom-com and you would be right in thinking that way. But it offers just a little bit more in terms of depth and character development than previous movies of the type that' I've seen at least in recent memory.
The story follows a girl named Katie (Bella Thorne) a 17 year old aspiring musician living with a rare condition named XP (there's a scientific name for it but it's mostly referred to as XP) that prevents her from being out in sunlight. Katie lives a pretty basic life over this condition. With her mother having passed away at a young age it was mainly up to her dad to look after her and guide her through a pretty bleak childhood and although she never complained growing up it shows how much strain and impact it had on her later in the movie. I wish they would have expanded on how she grew up a bit more because for the most part that is just pushed aside for the present day Katie. A few flashbacks to see just how she reacted to the world around her would have been a nice touch in my opinion.
This is when Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger) enters her life and makes such an impact on it in a good way that it's hard not to get sucked into it all. He takes her on an incredible journey throughout Seattle and the two have what they call the best night of their lives. It sounds cheesy but it's presented in a good way that it's easy to get over the one liners that you'd typically expect from these kind of movies. Both Thorne and Schwarzenegger are incredibly likable almost right from the get go and that also helped smooth the movie out. Thorne especially is incredibly likable in her role. Faced with certain death someday at the hands of her condition she plays her part in such an upbeat way that it's hard not to fall in love with her at times. All of this is backed by a pretty impressive soundtrack featuring mainly songs written and performed by Thorne's Katie character. They are both heavily emotional in lyrics and quite somber on the ear. Speaking of emotional the ending is really emotionally charged and hit me hard at some points. It was executed really well and the emotion of the characters came across as really genuine. Midnight Sun isn't going to be the most impressive movie you'll see this year or something you'll remember a few months from now but it is a pleasant experience that for the most part I really did enjoy.
★★★
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