A lack of tension
BELLA THORNE’S LEAD PERFORMANCE CAN’T DISTRACT MIDNIGHT SUN’S AUDIENCE FROM ITS OTHER FAULTS
The main character of Midnight Sun is Katie Price ( Bella Thorne). Katie is a 17- year- old girl who stays awake at night and sleeps all day. She’s homeschooled by her father, Jack (Rob Riggle), and she takes three hours to get ready — but that’s not her idea. No, she relies on the instruction of her best friend Morgan (Quinn Shephard) to live like a normal adolescent.
Katie leads a sheltered existence, but it’s not merely at the whim of an overprotective father. It’s what happens when you grow up with a debilitating dis- ease called xeroderma pigmentosum which leaves her fatally sensitive to sunlight.
Taking on the archetypal role in a romantic comedy is a little bit different for Thorne, who is probably best known for playing mean girls in The Duff, The Babysitter and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. While Midnight Sun takes a while to distinguish Katie from every other romantic teen protagonist — her over-thetop awkwardness while meeting Charlie ( Patrick Schwarzenegger) is as trope- y as it gets — Thorne makes the most of the opportunity to extend her range. Her chemistry with Shepherd is palpable, and she exhibits a willingness to play along with a script that at times can generously be described as lacking.
Thorne’s competent lead per- formance can’t distract its audience from Midnight Sun’s other faults. The movie somehow takes the tension out of a life threatening disease. No one wants to see unnecessary conflict, but the film lacks any sort of tension at all.
The movie hints at Jack possibly being more controlling than he seems, but never actually goes down that path. Meanwhile, a romantic rival for Charlie leaves the story as quickly as she appears.
Even the central relationship seems unrealistic. Katie suffers from a potentially fatal genetic disorder, while Charlie has a bad shoulder that’s getting in the way of a swim scholarship. Their plights are vastly different, and so it’s up to Charlie to be full of false positivity. Sure, Schwarzenegger possesses an innate charm, but the more his character opens his mouth to unleash a series of platitudes, the more I doubt his existence.
It seems as though director Scott Speer felt he needed to include as many minor details in his film as a way of giving an otherwise saccharine story some bite. Speer’s previous work includes an entry in the Step Up franchise. That series is famous for great dancing and terrible romantic subplots. This probably made some powers that be assume another teen romantic film was right in his wheelhouse. Unfortunately, Speer didn’t have great choreography to rely on in this one.
There are only so many rapid cuts you can make during an otherwise regular house party.