‘Midnight At The Magnolia’ Review- Typical Holiday Rom-Com
This movie streamed in 2020.
Midnight At The Magnolia joins the plethora of Netflix holiday romantic comedies. Instead of focusing on Christmas or Halloween, New Year’s is in the spotlight. The movie is directed by Max McGuire and written by Carley Smale.
Maggie Quinn (Natalie Hall) and Jack Russo (Evan Williams) are lifelong friends who have been doing radio together since high school. They are Chicago’s top relationship show, whose fathers Steve Quinn (Steve Cumyn) and Martin Russo (Michael Gordin Shore) own a failing Jazz bar. At the suggestion of their producer Deb (Alison Brooks), they agree to introduce their dates to their parents at a New Year’s Eve party to impress a media mogul interested in syndicating them. They decide to hold it at their parents’ bar to bolster clientele. When they both get dumped, they decide to fake a relationship to save face, but will their fake dating relationship get in the way of their friendship?
As romantic comedies go, particularly on Netflix, it was nice to have a movie where every other word is not the f-bomb or with trashy men and women. The characters have a bit more depth in this film, and it makes them more relatable as characters. I thought they did an excellent job of balancing the “will they, want they” in that regard. It had a charm to it that made it enjoyable to sit back and watch.
What made it a typical rom-com was the “extra.” The music was super cheesy and came on in these bizarre moments that interrupted the sequence of events. Also, “the moment” where the two of them get into an argument, as happens in these rom-coms, felt forced and unnatural. When they got mad at each other, I literally thought, “Get over it. It’s not that big of a deal.” It really was not that big deal, and all it did was add to the drama.
I will say for it, Natalie Hall and Evan Williams had some decent humor in the story. Their conversations and even radio segments provided the chuckles. It was not “oh wow,” but they had some decent interactions that did provide some funny and charming moments for the film.
Bottom line, Midnight At The Magnolia is a good date night movie to enjoy. It has some funny moments and is one you can watch with the whole family in the room.
PARENTAL CONCERNS: Some innuendo, Rude humor
FAVORITE QUOTE: What kind of person breaks up with you over the phone? Everyone knows the two-week cutoff is for a text breakup and one month for a call breakup.
Check out the trailer below:
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, anime, movie, or novel you would like me to review.