The stars are appealing enough in Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean's directorial debut, but can't quite make us care about the ill-starred couple they play.
By Guy Lodge
Plus IconGuy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge See All
The first thing to know about “Charlie Harper” is that it’s not, in fact, about someone called Charlie Harper. Charlie (Nick Robinson) and Harper (Emilia Jones) are a couple, meeting and parting at various stages across a five-year timeline; the title of this earnestly melancholy first feature by directing duo Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean implies that they’re two halves of a shared soul, whether they’re together or not. That’s one romantic notion of many in a free-floating relationship drama, which employs an intuitively non-linear structure to enliven what is otherwise a fairly conventional, ordinary love story between two attractive but imperfect people. Robinson and Jones are a likable enough pairing to make “Charlie Harper” affecting here and there; making it interesting is a taller order.
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