Review: Bay Area-born Monica Barbaro shines in sappy rom-com ‘At Midnight’

'Top Gun: Maverick' actress and San Francisco native plays a movie star who falls for a resort manager in Valentine's Day comfort cinema on Paramount+.

Diego Boneta and Monica Barbaro star in “At Midnight,” which premieres on Paramount + on Friday, Feb. 10.

Photo: Camila Jurado/Paramount +

Sophie Wilder is at a career and personal crossroads. She is weeks away from wrapping up a film shoot for the last of the “Super Society” comic book movies, in which she plays superhero Firephina, and she has just caught her co-star and boyfriend, Adam Clark, who plays Dr. Thunder, cheating on her.

Sophie longs to emerge from both Adam’s and Firephina’s shadows and become a serious actress. Then, while filming scenes near an exclusive Mexican resort, she falls for handsome hotel manager Alejandro, who has an authenticity that Adam could never hope to have.

Targeted as Valentine’s Day comfort cinema, the new Paramount+ movie “At Midnight” is as sappy and predictable as it sounds, with walks along the beach, romantic getaways, candy-colored scenery and, of course, the inevitable mix-ups, misunderstandings and silly arguments that are requirements of the rom-com genre.

Adam (Anders Holm) and Sophie (Monica Barbaro) as Dr. Thunder and Firephina in “At Midnight.”

Photo: Camila Jurado/Paramount +

苏菲是一个女演员扮演断裂韧性的能力k-ass heroine is entirely believable, because she is played byMonica Barbaro,the San Francisco native who grew up in Mill Valley and was Tom Cruise’s wingman in“Top Gun: Maverick.”但在“午夜”,还巴巴罗箴言es with seemingly effortless charm that she can carry a rom-com, and with daffy scripts like these, she and her castmates have some heavy lifting to do. But they are up to the task.

Barbaro’s co-star, Mexican leading man Diego Boneta, who resembles a young Bill Pullman, matches her enthusiasm as Alejandro, a harried hospitality worker who dreams of opening his own hotel. Their characters’ busy schedules mean they can often meet only at night, thus the movie’s title.

Diego Boneta and Catherine Cohen in “At Midnight.”

Photo: Camila Jurado/Paramount +

Also notable is Catherine Cohen, the funniest of Sophie’s “team,” as the movie star’s personal assistant/best friend, and Anders Holm as Adam, who has the thankless task of playing the vain co-star/ex-boyfriend in the broadest possible terms.

Director Jonah Feingold, who co-wrote the script, keeps things moving efficiently, and there are amusing lines, like Sophie’s reaction to damage control suggestions when she breaks up with Adam: “This is my life, not a viral moment!” Then there’s Adam going through an “identity diffusion,” and a joke at one point that the “Super Society” movies are“according to Scorsese, not cinema.”“What does he know?” comes the retort.

Chances are Marty wouldn’t think of much of “At Midnight” either, but this is the kind of Hallmark Channel-level puffery that has its place, especially around Valentine’s Day.

G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen

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2 stars

"At Midnight":Romantic comedy. Starring Monica Barbaro, Diego Boneta, Anders Holm and Catherine Cohen. Directed by Jonah Feingold. (R. 100 minutes.) Premieres Friday, Feb. 10, on Paramount+.

  • G. Allen Johnson
    G. Allen Johnson

    G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.