Charlie Harper review
By Joel Humphries · Watched 09.24.26
★★★ 3 / 5
Spoiler-free review
Marketed like a rom-com, Charlie Harper is actually a time-hopping relationship drama about what happens when one partner grows up faster than the other. The nonlinear structure lets you piece together the highs and lows as Nick Robinson’s stalled, defensive Charlie collides with Emilia Jones’s steadily self-actualizing Harper. It’s well directed and very well acted, but the writing doesn’t quite deliver the emotional clarity or wit I look for, especially compared to the gold standard here, (500) Days of Summer. Worth seeing, just not my flavor of romance—and not sharp enough on the page to change my mind.
Full review — contains spoilers
Charlie Harper is being sold, at least to some extent, as a rom-com. That’s not really what it is. This is a relationship drama about two people who fall in love young and then have to deal with the fact that one of them grows up faster than the other.
The movie follows Charlie and Harper over about five years of their relationship, but it doesn’t tell the story chronologically. You basically start near the end and then jump backward and forward through different periods of their relationship.
Nick Robinson plays Charlie. He’s a guy who is basically stuck. He has a lot of unresolved stuff from his childhood and his relationship with his parents. He has a job he doesn’t particularly like, dreams he doesn’t really pursue and not much sense of where his life is going. Meanwhile, Harper is growing up.
She’s building a career and becoming a functioning adult faster than he is. Eventually she starts looking at this guy she loves and realizing that he’s basically standing still while she’s moving forward.
And every time she tries to push him, he feels attacked. There’s also this guilt dynamic where Charlie has essentially told her that she knew what he was when she chose him, so if she grows beyond him somehow she’s abandoning him. So the basic problem is pretty simple: this young woman is getting her shit together and her long-term boyfriend isn't. The movie keeps cutting between the good parts and bad parts of their relationship and lets you gradually figure out how they got where they are.
I think it's well directed and very well acted. I like Nick Robinson, and Emilia Jones is very good as Harper. My problem is mostly with the writing and, to some extent, just the kind of romantic movie I personally like.
I like romance. I watch Hallmark movies. I watch a lot of Indian movies. I generally like watching people fall in love and having things eventually fall into place. This movie is deliberately withholding that kind of experience.
The obvious comparison for me is (500) Days of Summer, which is one of my favorite movies. That movie also jumps around in time and looks at a relationship from different points in its life rather than giving you a conventional romantic story.
Charlie Harper has some of that same vibe. I just think (500) Days of Summer did it much better.
I wouldn't tell you not to watch Charlie Harper. It's well made and worth seeing. It just isn't really my kind of romantic movie, and I don't think the writing is strong enough to overcome that for me.