Midnight Sun

'MIDNIGHT SUN': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A teen romance about a 17-year-old girl with a life threatening sensitivity to sunlight, who has her first romantic relationship with her longtime crush, but she doesn't tell him about her illness. The movie stars Patrick Schwarzenegger (son of the great Arnold Schwarzenegger, in one of his first major starring roles), Bella Thorne and Rob Riggle. It was directed by Scott Speer (who previously helmed the 2012 teen romance dance flick 'STEP UP REVOLUTION'), and it was written by Erik Kirsten (the film is a remake of a 2012 Japanese movie, of the same name). It's received mostly negative reviews from critics, and it's a modest hit at the Box Office. I found it to be mildly affective, but mostly mediocre at best.

Katie Price (Thorne) has had a rare illness since she was a small child, called xeroderma pigmentosum, in which she can be killed by any exposure to sunlight. She has lived most of her life almost entirely indoors, being homeschooled by her loving father (Riggle). Now, as Katie graduates from high school, she begins venturing outside at night to play her guitar. On graduation night she meets her longtime childhood crush, Charlie (Schwarzenegger), who never even knew she existed before that. A romance develops between the two, but Charlie doesn't know anything about Katie's condition.

The film is pretty routinely made, and it's clichéd and pretty cheesy as well at times. It accomplishes what it sets out to do though, and I think it's target audience will be completely satisfied with it. I usually hate these types of movies, but I wanted to see this one just to see Patrick Schwarzenegger in a starring role (I was a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger fan). It's a little weird how much he resembles his father at times, in appearance, but he still acts nothing like him (and of course doesn't have the beloved accent). He's also not nearly as charismatic, or talented (that we can see yet at least), but he does fine in this film. It would be great to see him and Scott Eastwood star in a buddy action flick together, I think. I'm sure it would probably be cheesy, and bad, but also really amusing. Rob Riggle steals this movie though, and it's worth watching if you're a fan of the genre definitely.

Midnight Sun might not have the most original of stories, but it has a ton of heart, charm and emotional charge to melt the coldest of hearts.

As a frequent movie goer, this was just about my only choice today since I've seen the other movies that are playing now. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I expected it to cater to teenagers, which is mostly did, but as a person in my 70s, I enjoyed it too. It does tug at the heartstrings, which I find manipulative, but it wasn't too hard to hold back the tears. The acting is very good except for Schwarzenegger, who is just OK as an actor, but his being so easy on the eyes makes up for it. The plot is predictable; anyone can pretty much guess correctly what's going to happen along the way, but for a romance-type movie, that's just what they do. And there are some plot holes, like Katie knowing how to swim when she's never been in the sun and her house doesn't have a swimming pool, and her attending a swim meet to watch Charlie swim but no explanation as to how she got from her house safely to the car and from the car safely to the swim arena. She had on a hoodie, but if that's all it takes, she could go out more often during the day instead of having been cooped up in her house during the day for all of her life. And if exposure to the sun for one day is deadly, how did she get home from the hospital when she was born before they knew she had this disorder. None the less, it's a good enough movie - just a little sappy - but I think the kids will love it.

Great Movie. A sort of modern walk to remember. Very classy and family friendly.

Midnight Sun, follows teenager Katie Price who has a rare disease called XP which makes her stay out of the sun because being in the sun is fatal and can result in death. She stays looking out into the world from her window and one night meets her dream guy Charlie whom shes been watching since a young age. The film follows her journey through her first love, first parties, and the one life she has. The film is important as it follows a real life disease and also represents a teens curiousness and their eagerness they have to explore the world and how as teens we can feel trapped. Katie is a strong character who sacrifices a lot and goes through so many trials. I recommend you give this a film a try. My thoughts at first was that the film was cheesy and the story was just like the film Everything, Everything. Well news flash for me, the film is nothing like Everything, Everything and the story was good, the acting was good,the music was heartwarming, and had me in tears. I recommend the film no matter what your thoughts are on the film.

"I'm really busy during the day, but I can be free at night." -Katie Price, Midnight Sun