Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson play two people who keep finding and losing each other in Charlie Harper, a non-linear romance that opened in U.S. theaters on September 25, 2026. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean, who co-directed from a script by Dean. It premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and was picked up for North American distribution by Row K Entertainment shortly after.
The title has nothing to do with Charlie Sheen’s character from Two and a Half Men. Charlie and Harper are the first names of the two leads. Their love story unfolds across roughly five years, jumping between high school, college, New Orleans, and the aftermath of a breakup.
A Non-Linear Love Story Set Against Obama’s 2008 Election
Charlie and Harper first cross paths in high school. They meet again at a college party on the night of Barack Obama’s first presidential victory in 2008. Harper pretends not to remember Charlie. He reminds her they have met before. That playful back-and-forth becomes a pattern they repeat at different points in their relationship.
Harper wants to become a chef. She moves from their small town to New Orleans to train. Charlie, bright but aimless, follows her. He works menial jobs and drinks more than he should. For a while, they live together. Then their paths start pulling in different directions.
The film bounces between three main periods of their lives, using different aspect ratios and color palettes to mark the shifts. The youngest years have a warm, saturated look. The middle years are sharper and more natural. The later scenes are bathed in bright white light, as if the characters can finally see clearly.
What Critics Are Saying About Charlie Harper
Reviews have been mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film sits at 57% based on early critic scores. Metacritic shows a score of 58 from five reviews.
Variety’s Guy Lodge called the film “earnestly melancholy” and said Robinson and Jones are “a likable enough pairing to make ‘Charlie Harper’ affecting here and there; making it interesting is a taller order.” He noted the film “zigzags with some grace between the peaks and troughs of the romance at its center, but never gathers much momentum or even much depth of emotion.”
The New York Times described it as a “melancholic movie” where the nonlinear structure “resists simple past tense.” The review pointed out that “there’s something wanting in the insularity” of the story.
The Hollywood Reporter was harsher, calling it “overwrought and undercooked” and saying the showy structure “overwhelms the unshowy story.” The review added that the final scenes “feel like too little, too late — a nice but underwhelming payoff to an otherwise frustrating romance.”
ScreenRant wrote that the film is “unable to overcome a false, awkwardly structured script” and “doesn’t manage to sell the idea that this couple should ever be together.”
The Playlist was more positive. Its review said Emilia Jones “finds gravitas and insight in an otherwise familiar story” and called the film “a fine romantic melodrama” that “should be a hit with young audiences.”
The AU Review praised the “palpable chemistry” between the leads and said “they ignite the screen whenever they are together.”
Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson on Building the Relationship
In interviews ahead of the release, Jones and Robinson talked about how they mapped out the timeline of their characters’ relationship. Because the film jumps around so much, they started by shooting the youngest scenes first.
“It was quite fun, actually, for Nick and I to kind of sit down and map out their relationship,” Jones told ComingSoon. “We started with all the really young scenes. It was nice because we were still getting to know each other and getting to know the characters and their story.”
Robinson added that the different time periods meant different clothing, hairstyles, and energy levels. “Towards the end of the shoot, people at the end are haggard, you’re tired,” he said with a laugh.
The film also deals with Charlie’s growing drinking problem. Robinson told The AU Review that he approached the subject “with a genuine care, always refusing to play into any type of stereotypicality.”
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Release Details for USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and India
Charlie Harper opened in U.S. theaters on September 25, 2026, distributed by Row K Entertainment. The film runs 1 hour and 42 minutes and is rated R for language, some sexual content, and drug use.
A Russia release is listed for September 24, 2026, with a Spain release set for December 11, 2026. No official release dates have been confirmed yet for the UK, Canada, Australia, or India. The film is expected to arrive on VOD platforms after its theatrical run, though no streaming date has been announced.
The cast also includes Nicholas Cirillo, Virginia Tucker, Sebastian Delascasas, and Ja’Quan Henderson. Producers are Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner, Laura Quicksilver, Patrick Wachsberger, Ashley Stern, and Mallory Edens.
For more updates on Charlie Harper, Emilia Jones, Nick Robinson, and the latest in film releases, keep checking VvipTimes.
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