Before Midnight
As a movie reviewer I try not to read opinions on movies before I watch and review them, preferring to just read a synopsis and then watch the movie with no prejudice. Sometimes that backfires and it did when I sat down to watch "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" because if I had known what the movie really was before sitting down I probably wouldn't have watched it. The simple reason why is that "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" is like "Before Sunrise" where two people meet and we spend the entire movie watching them spend X amount of hours together, talking about things and binding till the chemistry is there. But these movies only work if you can connect to the people and the couple in "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" played by Scoot McNairy and Sara Simmonds live in a very different world to mine and did nothing to draw me in to their relationship.
Since arriving in L.A. life hasn't been great for Wilson (Scoot McNairy - Monsters) and after his flatmate Jacob (Brian McGuire) catches him pleasuring himself in front of a Photo-shopped picture of his girlfriend forces him to try and find a date online. Reluctantly he does so and finds himself being called by the forthright Vivian (Sara Simmonds), a pretty blond with an ex boyfriend who stalks her. Despite not having the best of starts they end up spending the day walking around L.A. together.
So here is the thing about "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" it is an indie romantic comedy, one which tackles romance and comedy very differently to mainstream movies. Now if you are not use to these sorts of movies the chances are you will hate it shortly after it starts. But that is not my problem because I can appreciate that it is a nicely put together indie movie with an artistic bint which mainstream movies lack, and I am not just on about it being shot in black & white as it also captures some interesting shots of L.A.
Nope my problem is that Wilson and Vivian are not real people, they don't inhabit the same world as I do and they are not people I would meet on the streets. And because of this I had no connection to them, I had no sense of liking either of them so whilst it is clear that their characters and relationship to each other develops over the time spent together I did not care for them. The trouble is that whilst not completely pretentious their attitude, Vivian's constant swearing and Wilson's geeky style just doesn't ring true for me. It also doesn't help that at times the focus shifts from Wilson and Vivian to Jacob and girlfriend Nim as he is planning to propose unaware that Nim is about to leave him
The knock on effect of having no connection to the characters is that the performances did little for me and at times it felt quite amateurish when it came to the supporting cast. Thankfully both Scoot McNairy and Sara Simmonds do play their parts well, what they talk about may not be real but the way they respond to each other is, the nervousness, the growing closeness as well as that slight sense of fragility as if things could shatter at any moment.
What this all boils down to is that in fairness "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" is a nicely put together indie movie which if you enjoyed "Before Sunrise" then there is a good chance you will enjoy this to. But it all comes down to whether you can connect to the main characters and if you can't then it will be 90 minutes of boredom.
