Being Charlie

Competent yet perpetually uninvolving, Being Charlie follows Nick Robinson’s Charlie Mills as he’s essentially forced into rehab by his parents (Cary Elwes’ David and Susan Misner’s Liseanne) – with the narrative detailing Charlie’s rocky efforts at getting clean and his tentative relationship with a fellow addict (Morgan Saylor’s Eva). It’s a decidedly familiar premise that’s rarely, if ever, elevated to more-than-watchable effect, as director Rob Reiner, working from Matt Elisofon and Nick Reiner’s screenplay, delivers a fairly routine and run-of-the-mill drama that benefits, at least, from a series of charismatic performances – with Robinson’s strong work as the somewhat unlikable protagonist matched by a solid supporting cast that includes Ricardo Chavira, Devon Bostick, and Common. (The latter is especially good as a world-weary counselor that tries to help Charlie.) There’s little doubt, though, that the script’s continuing reliance on fairly hackneyed elements grows a little tiresome, as the paint-by-numbers storyline hits upon virtually every single addiction-drama touchstone that one has come to expect (including the ongoing battle of wills with an authority figure and the inevitable relapse). The movie, as a result, fizzles out quite substantially in the buildup to its climactic stretch, which ultimately does cement its place as a well-intentioned misfire that could (and should) have been much better.

** out of ****