Starting the year off with a standard romantic tearjerker would be easy enough, but director Julia Stiles makes Wish You Were Here into a must-see event. The strength of its characters and messaging follows a similar path to The Fault in Our Stars and Me Before You—in other words, fans of romantic dramedies will definitely connect with this simple but surprisingly touching tale. Finding a fleeting connection to another human is hard enough, but what about love? Can love be born overnight, and does the shortness of a relationship story diminish its power? Riding on a hopeful sweetness and the natural charisma of leads Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan, The Hunger Games) and Mena Massoud (Aladdin, The Sacrifice Game), Wish You Were Here starts 2025 off right with a gut-punch of emotionality.
Bookended by a potent narration from Adam (Massoud), the film explores the connection app creator Adam finds in Charlotte (Fuhrman), a waitress at quirky-weird diner Mr. Margaritatown. Lamenting the annoyances of her job with close friend and co-worker, Helen (Gabby Kono-Abdy), the traditional rom-com meet-cute happens rather unexpectedly. They spot Adam walking by outside, and push him to share his takeout. Adam invites Charlotte out for a drink with him, and their adorable night only escalates from there. They glue up mural artwork in an alley, imagine a theoretical future filled with joy, and share a blissful evening together at Adam’s impressive loft. It all happens rather quickly, and remains organic thanks to an easy chemistry between Massoud and Fuhrman.
Their propulsive rendezvous appears to end as abruptly as it began, when Adam insists the next morning that they do not have a real relationship. Charlotte tries to move on in vain—Helen sets her up on a dating app. Charlotte tries hard to put herself back out on the dating scene. She sees Adam in everything, going over their tryst in her head to figure out where things took a turn. The reason for Adam’s drastic absence soon becomes apparent. Adam, terminally ill with invasive cancer, was afraid that he would not have the time or capacity to truly love Charlotte as she deserves to be loved. Can she take a chance on this doomed romance for as long as it will last?
Stiles, who also co-wrote the script with original author Renee Carlino, knows these characters inside and out. Both have layered pasts, and in their longing, Stiles finds commonality. A recurring visual of “paper dolls,” directly adjacent to a line of dialogue Charlotte discloses about her relationship with her father, feels representative of Adam’s deep adoration for Charlotte. To call what transpires in the latter half of Wish You Were Here upsetting would be underselling it. Massoud and Fuhrman are asked to go to tragic extremes that may trigger anyone who has lost a loved one in this manner. Both manage to impress with the depth they bring in light of obvious difficulties, ensuring this central relationship remains believable throughout regardless of how whirlwind in nature it may be.
Julia Stiles is of course no stranger to the romance genre—her own late 90s/early 2000s output saw two instant classics come to fruition in 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance. This is without mentioning the more underrated choices including The Prince and Me, Down to You, and A Guy Thing. Suffice to say, Stiles probably has a good eye for what works in this realm. As such, Wish You Were Here may not take any wild creative swings, but Stiles absolutely emboldens every frame with a meaningful, oftentimes difficult to swallow message. Sometimes those we love are not around nearly long enough. The glimmer of hope reminds us to look for strength in moving forward, even when doing so is immeasurably difficult.
Wish You Were Here arrives with a hopeful sweetness, exclusively in theaters on Friday, January 17th.
