Wish You Were Here 2025 Film Review

Actress Julia Stiles makes a graceful debut as a writer/director with “Wish You Were Here,” based on Renée Carlino’s best-selling novel about a bittersweet romance. Isabelle Fuhrman plays Charlotte, about to turn 30 and having a hard time finding her way. She hates her job at a cheesy Mexican-themed restaurant. It helps that the other waitress is her best friend and roommate, Helen (a lively Gabby Kono-Abdy, also a producer on the film). 

One evening as they are coming home, Helen more than a little bit tipsy, they meet Adam (Mena Massoud), carrying takeout from a Chinese restaurant, and he offers them dumplings. Charlotte is initially dismissive, but when she sees him again from their apartment window she goes back downstairs and they end up going for a drink, then a walk, where Adam gets Charlotte to help put up an illegal poster he designed. Then they go back to his apartment. They have an immediate connection, the kind of instant rhythm to their conversation that feels like magic. 

Adam has an irresistible smile and a quality that might initially seem like a charming whimsy. But those who are not caught up in the romance might pick up on some concerning clues. What seems like the charming whimsy of an artistic spirit could indicate some cognitive impairment, especially when we see a dozen post-it note reminders on Adam’s door.  In one of the movie’s best moments, Adam asks Charlotte how they met. She responds with a made-up story intended as an endearing role play, a romantic fantasy. They have a tender night together, but the next morning is awkward. Charlotte leaves. She is hurt and angry when he seems to ghost her. Her mother and Helen urge her to set up a dating profile, and she meets Seth (Jimmie Fails), who is handsome, kind, funny, and really likes her. And he has a friend who really likes Helen. 

And then she gets a visit from Adam’s friend Stacy (Jane Stiles, the director’s sister), who brings her a letter. Adam is in the hospital, with a terminal prognosis. Helen moves in with the new boyfriend and Charlotte gives up everything to stay by Adam’s side.

First-time screenwriter Stiles stumbles a bit in the book-to-movie adaptation. Some elements and characters that work better on the page with the main character narrating are clutter in a screenplay. Helen’s romance is a distraction because it is not clear how seriously we should take it or what purpose it serves in the story other than to provide another example of instant but meaningful romance. Charlotte’s brother and father seem like interesting characters, but their roles are frustratingly more of a distraction than a contribution.  The resolution is abrupt, barely rescued by the endless charm of Jimmie Fails.

Stiles does make great use of her experience as an actor in her casting and work with the actors. Fuhrman conveys a great deal with her facial expressions and creates authentic chemistry with Kono-Abdy, Jennifer Grey (as her mother), Massoud, and Fails. The Seth and Adam characters are thinly written and could easily be too good to be true, even for a love story. Massoud and Fails deliver on the gorgeous smiles and tender glances but also make the characters more grounded than the script suggests. If Adam’s movie-star version of a terminal disease is romanticized, that is not unusual for a movie about young people in love. What works best in the film is the shift of the relationship between Charlotte and Adam from imagining the years they will not have together to being fully in the moments they have left. 

Nell Minow

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

Wish You Were Here

Drama
star rating star rating
PG-13 2025

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