Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Paramount+
Paramount is capitalizing on its Top Gun: Maverick celeb power. No, we’re not talking about rom-com alum Glen Powell. This time, the scene-stealing Monica Barbaro tries her hand at the genre in the new Paramount+ feel-good movie At Midnight. But the capitalizing goes too far in this case, in a movie about movie stars—as electric as Barbaro may be, a tired script dampens the shine of this rising star’s breakout flick.
At Midnight offers up a familiar, Notting Hill-like premise: Movie star Sophie Wilder (Barbaro) is tired of the glitz and the glamor, but especially of her co-star/boyfriend Adam Clark (Anders Holm). And she’s right to be wary of their future! Before the pair travel off to a resort in Mexico to film one of their upcoming adventure romps, but right before they depart, Sophie catches Adam making out with another girl in his trailer. Hurt (but also somewhat relieved), she cuts things off with the pompous f-boy.
The film sprinkles in some new tension between them, though, as Sophie can’t announce her break-up to the press until after the new movie hits theaters. On talk shows and in press junkets, Sophie has to compartmentalize her hatred for Adam—and, even worse, when she falls for hotel concierge hottie Alejandro (Diego Boneta), she has to sneak around with him in kitchens and private hotel suites.