MIDNIGHT SUN
A simple teenage romance with positive values, best seen at home.
Should You Watch It?
Midnight Sun offers a morally uplifting love story, especially through its strong father-daughter relationship. Katie and her father care for, trust and forgive one another, while Katie and Charlie’s romance is presented as genuine love rather than mere sensuality. The young couple also resists the drinking and smoking embraced by some of their peers.
The tradeoff is substantial simplicity. The story is predictable, the acting is uneven, and the movie contains several obscenities, 16 light profanities, underage drinking, kissing and brief smoking. Its positive values are real, but they are wrapped in a modest production that may not justify a theater trip.
You can safely consider it for a discerning middle schooler or older teen, but WAIT FOR HOME is the better choice.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESKatie Price is a 17-year-old girl living at night because of a life-threatening sensitivity to the sun. She spends her days behind UV-protected windows, writing music and watching Charlie Reed, her childhood crush, pass by on his way to swim practice.
After Katie meets Charlie at a train station, their connection grows into a romance. Katie wants to experience a normal life, but her disease complicates the relationship and the dreams they begin pursuing together.
Is It Any Good?
Two stars means Midnight Sun has worthwhile ideas but limited entertainment and production quality. The storyline and dialogue are simple and predictable, and the two leads give uneven performances. Bella Thorne captures Katie as an awkward, adorable teenager seeking life beyond her home, while Patrick Schwarzenegger’s performance leaves much to be desired. Both sometimes appear lackluster and disengaged.
Quinn Shepherd gives the movie’s best performance as Katie’s best friend, bringing a natural, believable and endearing quality to the role. The movie slowly grows on the audience, building empathy for its characters and the joys and stings of love.
The Worldview
Midnight Sun presents a strong moral worldview centered on a positive, sacrificial father-daughter relationship. Katie and her father love, respect and trust one another, and they show honesty and forgiveness. The film also values strong friendships and portrays romantic love as something deeper than physical attraction.
The movie presents consequences for both good and bad decisions. Katie and Charlie face opportunities to follow the crowd, including underage drinking, but they choose not to glorify the high school and college partying lifestyle. The film promotes living life to its fullest in a wholesome way.
At the same time, the story includes lying and omission. Katie lies to her father briefly, her friend encourages deception, and Katie withholds information from Charlie about her disease. There is no mention of religion whatsoever, though strong morals are prevalent throughout nearly every scene.
The film’s longing for love, care and selfless sacrifice points toward the goodness of love, though it does not ground that goodness in God. Scripture says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral worldview centered on a strong, positive and sacrificial father-daughter relationship, as well as strong relationships with friends, with a light Romantic theme indicating that people can be ruled by though emotions though balanced by their reason, emotion can be expressed and released through music, and music can make someone’s memory live on even past death, plus an overarching theme that loving another person is the greatest gift life can offer
Foul Language
Seven obscenities and 16 light profanities
Violence
No violence
Sex
Young adults sexualized through the clothing they wear (crop tops and short bottoms), during a party scene two characters are seen making out in a car, a group of recent high school graduates are seen kissing on the dance floor and grinding, one scene shows the two romantic leads swimming in the ocean in their underwear, they press their bodies against one another and kiss, and the scene cuts away
Nudity
Upper male nudity when lead male appears shirtless while working on a boat as well as in a swim meet, two lead characters swim at night in their underwear and afterwards they lay on a beach towel covered by a blanket, and teenage girls wear crop tops revealing their stomachs
Alcohol Use
Underage drinking seen multiple times in two party scenes where drinking games (beer pong, body shots, etc.) are displayed, but both main characters participate but remain sober due to a distaste for drunkenness, and male lead dislikes partying and drinking due to a mistake made when he was drunk that threatened his swimming career due to jumping off rooftop into a pool (this is not shown, only mentioned
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
Brief smoking;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Female lead bullied as a child by children who call her a vampire, female lead lies to father about where she is going but within seconds is convicted and admits her lie to her father, best friend of female lead encourages her friend to lie in order to hang out with her boyfriend, female lead omits telling her boyfriend for months about her disease (lie of omission) and faces consequences because of that.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Katie’s father protects her while still trusting her. What do love, honesty and forgiveness look like in your family?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 · Ephesians 4:32Katie and Charlie face pressure to live like their peers. When is it difficult to resist the crowd, and how can Christians encourage one another?
Romans 12:2 · 1 Corinthians 15:33Katie withholds important information from Charlie. Why can an omission still damage trust?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22The movie says that love can be life-changing. How does biblical love differ from simply following strong emotions?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 · 1 John 4:19The Final Word
Midnight Sun offers a sweet romance and a wholesome father-daughter relationship, but its simple story, uneven acting and content concerns make it better suited to a home setting. For your family, WAIT FOR HOME. Looking for another choice? See our family-friendly picks.
