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Being Charlie

Play trailer 2:26 Poster for Being Charlie R 2016 1h 37m Comedy Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
23% Tomatometer 44 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
The drug-addicted son (Nick Robinson) of a California politician (Cary Elwes) finds romance with a fellow patient (Morgan Saylor) in rehab.
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Being Charlie

Being Charlie

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Critics Consensus

Being Charlie has wonderful intentions and a strong central performance, but an affecting true story gets lost in the script's surfeit of clichés.

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Critics Reviews

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Roxana Hadadi Punch Drunk Critics 01/09/2017
2.5/5
Too often lately Robinson has been the best part of meh movies. Go to Full Review
Tirdad Derakhshani Philadelphia Inquirer 05/20/2016
2/4
A well-crafted work that features a powerful performance by former child actor Nick Robinson (Jurassic World), Being Charlie is far too predictable, relying too often on all-too-familiar drug-story tropes. Go to Full Review
Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times 05/12/2016
2.5/4
Better remembered as the vehicle to healing for the family than a movie that made an impact. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell Fish Jelly Films (YouTube) Dec 30
1.5/5
While Being Charlie was assumedly paved with good intentions, and features a committed performance from Nick Robinson, it is a gratingly banal experience about a privileged, dysfunctional child who has nothing interesting to say... Go to Full Review
Joseph Robinson Fish Jelly Films (YouTube) Dec 21
1.5/5
Being Charlie struggles to be more than an unremarkable addiction story, landing closer to an unfunny satirical after-school special than a gripping drama. Go to Full Review
David Bax Battleship Pretension 01/06/2021
Being Charlie, despite having its heart in the right place, just isn't that movie. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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TheMovieSearch R @TheMovieSearch Dec 29 Being Charlie is an emotionally grounded drama that explores addiction through an intimate, character driven lens. Nick Robinson gives a raw and vulnerable performance as Charlie, a teenager spiraling through substance abuse while cycling in and out of rehab. The film doesn’t glamorize addiction; instead, it shows how exhausting, repetitive, and painful recovery can be, especially when emotional wounds remain unresolved. The love story that develops inside the rehab facility feels tragic rather than romantic, reinforcing how people struggling with addiction often cling to each other for survival, even when they’re incapable of healing together. The screenplay occasionally wanders and leans too heavily on banter, but it never derails the emotional core of the story. Direction keeps the focus on Charlie’s internal battle, allowing viewers to feel invested in whether he survives or relapses. What truly elevates the film is the portrayal of unconditional moms love. See more Chris S @CStrife95 Dec 19 It was ok, I wanted to love it more than I did. See more Cynla S. @cynsavvy Dec 19 Ugh - I wanted to love this in solidarity for Rob Reiner and to have some insight into their family and this insanity… But it’s so awful. It’s pretty much unwatchable… Another example of how much he gave to his son to try to help him and it led to nothing except his own eventual demise.. did anyone tell them that the script sucked, the writing was sophomoric, the acting (except for the main guy) is flat and seems like a bunch of drug addict friends of Nick Reiner taking a shot at an acting career…. Overall, it’s so sad … completely devastating and heartbreaking See more Dawn Marie W @DeeMac Dec 18 I could only watch this lazy self-indulgent piece of garbage for about 30 minutes. The character of Charlie is a 2-dimensional selfish addict with no depth or character arc. He is a selfish, immature brat just like Nick Reiner. There is no way this would have gotten made without nepotism. See more First L. @fl1234431 Dec 17 Good movie recommended1111 See more David Lee K Dec 16 Being Charlie is aggressively hollow. It bills itself as an emotional coming-of-age drama, but what it really is, is an exercise in having to watch too long at unlikable people, while they do very little of interest. "Charlie" is not so much a "troubled teen". He's more a walking bundle of clichés, stitched together with a permanent scowl. He’s rude, self-destructive, emotionally opaque and completely devoid of growth. The film seems to think that being miserable is more than enough to make a character deep. Spoiler: it isn't. It just makes the characters exhausting. Watching Charlie stumble through rehab and life feels not like a journey, but more like being trapped next to someone who insists on monologuing about how broken they are, while refusing to change anything. Rob Reiner should have known better than to attach his reputation to this atrocity of a movie. He also deserved a better son than Nick. See more Read all reviews
Being Charlie

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Movie Info

Synopsis The drug-addicted son (Nick Robinson) of a California politician (Cary Elwes) finds romance with a fellow patient (Morgan Saylor) in rehab.
Director
Rob Reiner
Producer
Stephanie Rennie, Simon Goldberg, Rob Reiner, Johnson Chan
Screenwriter
Nick Reiner, Matt Elisofon
Distributor
Paladin
Production Co
Castle Rock Entertainment
Rating
R (Sexuality/Nudity|Language Throughout|Drug Use)
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 6, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 7, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.9K
Runtime
1h 37m
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