Charlie (Freddie Highmore) was a promising amateur chef but after an incident, he has withdrawn into a static life. He lives at home with his mother (Marg Helgenberger) and her family. His loser father (Christopher Meloni) arrives in town and comes to stay with them. Charlie's friend Ben (Haley Joel Osment) pushes him to talk to his crush coffee shop girl Amber (Odeya Rush). The problem is that she already has track star boyfriend Brad. Charlie gets her slacker cousin Jack a job at the revival theater. Jack takes a liking to Charlie's lifelong friend Heather.
Highmore and Rush are an appealing pretty young coupling. They make for a fine lead in a standard indie romance. There are a few too many issues and too many characters. Filmmaker Jake Goldberger has overstuffed this when he should concentrate on the two young stars. First with Osment, I assumed that his role would be more integral. Quite frankly, his role and Heather should be combined. Also, it needs to cut some of the extras. I don't know what is that Amber's girlfriend's name but her only contribution is listening to Amber in the bathroom. Her character should be incorporated into Jack. Have Rita Volk play Amber's cousin. As for Charlie's dad, it's another addition that pulls focus away from the Charlie Amber relationship. I would love that quirkiness except he does something totally stupid to steal climatic time. I rather have them be a quirky married couple and leave the rest out. They have these two terrific young actors and should make them the sole focus.
