Tom Dean (writer for short Photo of the Day and Carolina Caroline, another TIFF 25 title) and Mac Eldridge co-direct their second project and first feature together, the heart-breaking, gut-punching young romance Charlie Harper. The film is a fly-on-the-wall story about a couple who, on paper, shouldn’t be together, at the very least, or work out at all, but who are convinced otherwise by love, begging the eternal question of whether passion and love are enough to sustain a relationship that is tumultuous.
The movie focuses on Charlie and Harper (Nick Robinson and Emilia Jones, respectively) as they meet in a rather unconventional but not uncommon way — he is the teaching aid and she, a student, takes a liking to him and they start developing a relationship. The time frame continuously shifts between the start, middle, and where they are in their lives in the current timeline. There are a lot of ups and downs throughout the relationship, a lot of turmoil, but somehow their relationship and them as people continue to be focal points and anchors to this love story that transcends time and truly is the emotional gut-punch that will reinvigorate the hopeless romantic who feels down on their luck and even turn the coldest of hearts into warm beating muscles.
It would be easy to say that Dean has a knack for writing romance in the wildest and weirdest of times, but that would require seeing his other feature first, which was also a festival premiere. However, what Dean manages to write here with his script doesn’t feel like schlocky, older adolescent, early-20-year-old melodrama like Riverdale (thankfully), but it is a poignant look at love and romance and discovering one’s self with or without the person they feel they cannot live without.
L-R: Nick Robinson as Charlie and Emilia Jones as Harper in CHARLIE HARPER. Photo courtesy of TIFF.
To be able to co-direct and write a feature is a daunting task in of itself, but to knock it out of the park and create something so emotionally loaded while feeling genuine and true and not exploitative and overdone and “trashy” is special. And, of course, Dean and Eldridge aren’t alone in this adventure as they have a remarkable cast in Emilia Jones (CODA) and Nick Robinson (Kings of Summer; Snack Shack; Love, Simon) have a level of electricity to their chemistry that would make Ollie and Jerry jealous. There is something special when you cast two incredibly likable leads who just mesh together, and they make their characters’ blossoming romance believable to the audience.
When you combine two new feature-makers, a volatile story that is bound to combust, and two amazing talents from this generation of actors, they create a whirlwind of a movie that is going to hit the audience like a Final Destination truck of emotions and have them confront their past, current, and future relationships with a different lens.
Screening during Toronto International Film Festival 2025.
For more information, head to the official Toronto International Film Festival Charlie Harper webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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