Midnight Sun Parent Guide

Highly contrived and engineered to pull tears from teens, Midnight Sun adequately accomplishes this goal with no violence and few profanities – but there is a great deal of kissing, cuddling and near-skinny-dipping under the moonlight.

Working with a well-used template, Katie (Bella Thorne) is a high school senior imprisoned in her home by xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare disease that makes any exposure to sun lethal. When she finally meets Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger), the young man she’s been swooning over for the many years as he’s passed by her bedroom window, a romance ignites and pulls Katie out of her darkened shelter.

Katie’s father, Jack (Rob Riggle), having already suffered the loss of his wife when his daughter was a little child, is understandably protective and concerned about letting his girl out of his sight. Entirely homeschooled, he has limited her evening adventures to playing her guitar at the commuter train station in their small Washington town and spending time with her childhood friend Morgan (Quinn Shephard). Now the 18-year-old wants an extension to her 10 PM curfew (she’s possibly the most compliant adolescent ever put to film). Reluctantly, he agrees to allow her to attend a graduation party.

The event happens at a classmate’s home that’s full of teens, red cups (a friend brings in a keg of beer) and dark corner make-outs. Fortunately Charlie turns down the liquor in spite the peer pressure to party hard. (We’ll learn his backstory later in the movie, which provides a small, positive lesson to mitigate the scenes of drinking.) He also declines the overt attention of the host, Zoe (Tiera Skovbye), and demonstrates his complete devotion to Katie.

From this point, the love struck pair continue to date on what seems to be a nightly basis. Their relationship is depicted in a montage of moments with Katie jumping into Charlie’s truck and passionately kissing him. But for all the canoodling and a late night swim in their underwear, what’s missing is an important item of truth: Charlie still isn’t aware of Katie’s serious illness. Her ability to remember what time the sun rises in Northern Washington becomes increasingly impaired as well.

These two lovers’ physical attraction is more than evident. Perhaps Jack’s protective nature would be better used to have an open discussion with them about sexual expectations – especially as we’re led to believe (with great difficulty) that Katie hasn’t even had a face-to-face conversation with a boy up to this point. But, unlike other teen trysts (Fault In Our Stars and Everything, Everything) it isn’t directly implied that they have sex – even if they are doing everything possible to get to that point.

Midnight Sun walks a path so predictable that it’s almost more surprising that there isn’t a twist to this sad tale of romance. For adults, this may make for a tedious plod to a tepid conclusion. For teens, especially those young enough not to have been exposed to the many Boy In The Plastic Bubble variants (like Bubble Boy) prior to this one, Katie’s journey may be a novel watch.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.