I know what you’re thinking, Midnight Sun is just a typical teenage love story. And to be honest, I thought that too, but I was wrong. The movie was better than I thought it was going to be. That doesn’t mean it’s a great movie, but I’m always happy when I can be wrong about how bad a film can be. I want movies to be better than I think they’re going to be especially young adult movies.

Honestly, I went into this movie expecting not to like it. While there’s a lot of parts to it that are predictable and it has your typical sappy teenage Romance in it, there are some very heartfelt moments to this movie that made it worth seeing. The story centers around a young girl who has a very rare disease where she cannot go out into the sunlight. Yes, it sounds a bit far-fetched, but it it’s an actual disease called Xeroderma Pigmentosum. The main character played by Bella Thorne is a shut-in except for the few moments that she gets to go out at night and play music at a train station. There she meets the popular boy at school who falls in love with her and she is elevated from being the quirky shut in to the beautiful sweetheart that other girls are jealous of. But with one exception she is a girl who is dying and knows that she will die young.

Yes, it’s a heartbreaking story and you will pretty much know what happens in the end. There aren’t a lot of surprises, but what I did like about this story are some of the performances. Bella Thorne is very good in it. However I think it’s Rob Riggle who plays her father that steals the show. He’s funny, heartwarming, and the type of dad that we would all like to have who cares too much…plus he shows a different side to his acting ability beyond the zany characters that were used to him playing. He made me laugh and I also truly felt his pain as he has to come to grips with knowing that his daughter will die too young.

While this movie is not on the same level as movie like The Fault in Our Stars. There are some lovely moments especially when we get to hear Bella Thorne sing. She is a good singer and the music is pretty good, good enough to make you not want to walk out during the movie. I do think that for young adults, especially girls this is a movie that they should see and will enjoy. Can’t say that there’s anything particularly special about this movie. We’ve seen this story before and it will probably be forgettable in the next few years. Definitely not a movie that you’ll watch twice. Patrick Schwarzenegger is kind of stale in the movie, but he definitely has some nice moment. And I think he will get better as a young actor…hey his dad, past the Terminator movie and Conan The Barbarian.

I know that I am not this film’s target audience, but I have to admit that I didn’t feel anything for this movie. While the performances are good for the type of story that it si… it’s certainly not worth spending the money for a full price movie ticket. It’s a Redbox rental at best. But what does keep this movie from being absolutely horrible is Bella Thorne getting to sing and the performance of Rob Riggle who I’ve always loved in films. If you do see it in the theater, make it a matinee. A few tissues might be required. But you’ll probably forget why you were really crying after a while. It’s not an all out terrible movie, but for me the best part was the round table with Patrick Schwarzenegger and Bella Thorne in getting to talk about acting and what they look for in films. Midnight Sun is barely okay even for the younger audience this film is meant for.