Midnight at the Magnolia: Movie Review

A cute and charming bundle of holiday joy.

Romantic comedies most often suffer from predictability and Midnight at the Magnolia just may be the most predictable, but in all the right ways. Jack and Maggie form a very cute couple and the charm radiates through the entire story. Even though it feels like it could have been written by a computer, or a thousand monkeys on typewriters.		2020 Directed by: Max McGuire Screenplay by: Carley Smale Starring: Natalie Hall, Evan Williams
The Magnolia is a once-thriving, now-struggling jazz bar in Chicago, jointly-owned by Jack’s and Maggie’s fathers. Jack and Maggie are childhood best friends who now host a very popular Chicago morning radio show. They are local celebrities, and you very quickly get the sense that they have been planning their joint success since high school. Their undying love for just being silly together is real. I will even accept that these two very gorgeous, very successful people are in bad relationships and don’t realize what they have in front of their very own eyes because they are just having too much fun being cute. Headlined by a pair of adorable Canadian actors, Midnight at the Magnolia features the charm and charisma of Evan Williams and Natalie Hall. They have great chemistry, and a delightful friendship. After all, they are just friends for most of the movie and it comes across as genuine and just so cute that the audience will want to root for them. These two make the movie and hopefully can be used as a turning point into bigger and better things for both of them. Jack and Maggie’s radio show listeners think they should introduce their significant others to their parents on New Year’s Eve. The problem with that plan is that Jack and Maggie’s significant others have just broken up with them (for obvious reasons). Jack decides to fake a romance with Maggie to get through the holiday season and land themselves a promotion to a Nationally syndicated radio show. The story sounds worse than it actually is. Hall and Williams’ charms really help elevate the story into something that’s more cute than cringe. The comedy is minimal and the predictability does hurt the romance but Jack and Maggie’s cuteness and charm is infectious. It is so easy to get wrapped up in this big bundle of Christmas joy that is Midnight at the Magnolia.

Want a different Christmas movie or just more holiday-themed movies? Holiday Movies