Critic Reviews

Charlie Harper is a warm and heartfelt, yet realistic portrayal of love’s unforeseen consequences. It’s not quite a romcom, nor a coming-of-age story, but a secret third thing: a rom-coming-of-age narrative. It’s all the better for it.

Anchored by moving performances from Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson, you’ll find yourself falling in love with all that Charlie Harper has in store.

Charlie Harper is the kind of film whose impact will always be the strongest as you’re walking out of the theater. The lack of originality and occasional on-the-nose dialogue cancel out most of its rewatch value, but it’s hard not to be affected in the moment by the sincerity of its storytelling and the chemistry between Robinson and Jones.

Charlie Harper is a fine romantic melodrama.

A gently appealing and sincere romance.

There is much that is tenderly grown-up in this drama that tangles with diverging ambitions and the economics of work. Yet there’s something wanting in the insularity.

Only once we’ve gotten the full picture, near the end of the movie, does Charlie Harper finally start to come into its own. The film’s last scenes are its finest.

Robinson and Jones are a likable enough pairing to make Charlie Harper affecting here and there; making it interesting is a taller order.

Ultimately, the film is just an echo of much, much better films. One that desperately grasps for depth while wading around in the kiddie pool.