Young love and all the amazing, traumatic things that come with such are explored in Charlie Harper, Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean‘s emotional, non-linear romance dramedy, anchored by the moving performances – and palpable chemistry – of its leads, Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson.
Centering around the two halves of its titular coupling (so no, it has nothing to do with Charlie Sheen’s character from Two and a Half Men), Charlie (Robinson) and Harper (Jones) receive a multitude of introductions here, with the film’s non-linear structure presenting them at multiple stages of their relationship. We begin at their end, with both reflecting individually on what went right and what went wrong over their 5-year romance, with cinematographer Sharone Meir presenting each in a particular coloured hue of either red or blue; additionally, the aspect ratio shifts according to what stage of the relationship we find them in.
Because of how they “introduce” themselves in certain settings, it can take a beat to understand which timeline the film sets itself in, but through high school, a house party and an eventual wedding, we quickly learn how much the two are attracted to one another. They bond over Kenny Rogers, she shares her desires to be a chef, and he, a literary lover, is quite often the smartest person in the room – though his eventual aimlessness suggests he’s content not utilising such intellect to its full potential.
With their young, twenty-something love, the two attack the world without the fear of consequence, but it doesn’t take long for reality to hit them. As she manages to snare a job in a New Orleans restaurant in he bid to further her culinary career, Harper encourages them to get serious about their futures – it doesn’t help that she threatens to derail her career before it even starts with a first-day mishap – which Charlie agrees with, but he’s a “tomorrow” type of guy, and soon the romantic bliss and carefree mentality they adopted can no longer mask the very real issues of their ultimate compatibility.
Prior to the screening of Charlie Harper, Eldridge and Dean commented on how he hopes people out of their 20s can look at something like this film and reflect on how magical a time it truly is to be in love at that age, and that those currently in their 20s may take a bit of a breath before diving so ferociously in. It’s all easier said than done. Charlie Harper isn’t a cautionary tale, but it takes delight in how no romance is “perfect.” And that’s why it’s such an intoxicating look at love, because we know that there’s so much wrong with their dynamic, but we want them to succeed. When you’re in it, you try to avoid the other’s flaws, and in Charlie Harper, as much as they want to better themselves for the other, we can sense that the way they save each other is by letting the other go.
So much of what makes Charlie Harper work though is the work of Robinson and Jones. Robinson treats Charlie’s alcoholism with a genuine care, always refusing to play into any type of stereotypicality – there’s no belligerent, drunk stumbles on screen – as he presents himself as a man who has fallen on a habit, almost in secret, as he battles his mental health. He’s spectacular. As is Jones as Harper, embodying a woman whose zest for life and all the possibilities the future could bring slowly dissipates as the care she holds transforms into a hurting she can only carry for so long. They ignite the screen whenever they are together, and it’s because they so effortlessly fall into one another that we are so invested in their plight.
An impressive debut from Eldridge and Dean as filmmakers, Charlie Harper speaks to the beauty and emotional brutality of love. There’s a certain universality to the steps of the central relationship here, and combined with the exciting voices of its makers and the stunning, committed turns of both Robinson and Jones, this wonderfully messy romance is sure to be one many will respond to.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Charlie Harper is screening as part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, running between September 4th and 14th, 2025. For more information on the festival, head to the official site here.
