At Midnight

It was not Hallmark cringe but it was not remarkable either. I found that the storyline was too simple, like imagine you can skip whole parts of the film without missing anything. It lacked that special something. Also the thing between them, it all came together so fast. You couldn't tell when did they fell in love or what? Which is not good for a rom com. The actors were fine and the leads fitted. Not in a way that they would get you shipping them though. And that's also not good for a rom com. I wouldn't watch it again but go ahead and watch if you have a couple of hours to spare and want to relax.

As "At Midnight" (2023 release; 99 min.) opens, we see a clip of the latest superheroes movie "Super Society", starring Adam and Sophie, also an item off screen. Alas, Sophie finds out that Adam is cheating on her. When the movie production moves to Mexico, we are introduced to Alejandro, the hotel's assistant manager and all-around good guy. It's not long before Alejandro and Sophie run into each other...

Couple of comments: this is the 2nd feature length from director Jonah Feingold ("Dating & New York"). Here he brings us a romcom that is as breezy and pleasant as it is utterly forgettable and predictable. The movie's opening credits try to position the film as a 1950s-reminding romcom, perhaps even as a screwball comedy (which is quickly abandoned). It certainly helps that there is good chemistry between the two leads: Monica Barbaro (also in last year's "Top Gun Maverick") as Sophie, and Diego Bonte as Alejandro. The beautiful scenery in Mexico is also a plus, and the photography takes maximum advantage of the sun light. So it's all good while you are watching it, just don't expect something memorable.

"At Midnight" started streaming on Paramount+ a few days ago, just in time for Valentine's Day (of course!). If you are in the mood for a pleasant but forgettable romcom, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

The dialogue was absolutely terrible. I mean, some of the writing was trying to be self-aware but was actually just cringeworthy. But the poor writing mixed with the mediocre acting actually had me laughing out loud throughout the entire film. The lines are so shocking that I physically could not believe it was in the movie. It was pretty fun in that regard. The plot is as generic as one could expect. Monica Barbaro was actually pretty solid in this film. I think she has a ton of potential in a film that was actually attempting to be good. Overall, I would not recommend At Midnight unless you are interested in laughing at its absurdity.

Score: 33% Verdict: Bad (but fun)

If you're looking for a pleasant way to spend an hour and half and not tax your brain try this movie. It's definitely in the Hallmark mode and even has believable chemistry between the main leads. I especially like Monica Barbaro who has had roles on 2 shows I liked that were cancelled Splitting Up Together and Stumptown as well as some others. The supporting cast was good although I thought the agent was a bit cringeworthy. I liked the Spanish/English dialogue but I would've like subtitles in the English speaking parts. The setting was also quite lovely. However it felt Paramount definitely made a low budget movie compared to Netflix or Prime. Still as a whole I liked this movie and rated as a tv movie.

Okay guys. When you choose this movie to watch, and other movies like it, you have to understand what kind of ride you're going on. You don't get in line for the goliath at Six Flags if you want a calm nice relaxing afternoon theme park ride. In the same way you don't put on "at midnight" if you're looking for awards caliber, cinema changing content. So you have to calibrate yourself to what you're choosing to watch. All that said, it was a super cute, intentionally cheesy, funny, romantic comedy that kept me and my fiancée, laughing and smiling and giving each other cheesy giggles from beginning to end. So If you don't have a giant, self-important, film-snob stick up your a**, I think you'll Enjoy this movie a lot.