YouTube: Build Series/PaladinNick Reiner is in the news following the shocking death of his parents, Rob and Michele Singer Reiner, placing renewed focus on his semi-biographical 2015 movie, Being Charlie. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
On Sunday (December 14) at 3.40pm, the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at Reiners’ LA home to find the couple dead, reporting that it’s being treated as an “apparent homicide.”
Since the investigation is ongoing, the authorities have not confirmed further details at this stage. However, multiple sources told People that Rob, 78, and Michele, 68, were killed by Nick Reiner, 32, one of their four children.
Nick has previously opened up about his struggles with substance abuse, experiences that informed Being Charlie, a semi-biographical film he co-wrote with fellow recovering addict Matt Elisofon.
How to watch Being Charlie for free
Being Charlie is available to stream in its entirety on Tubi right now, meaning viewers can watch the one hour 38 minute movie for free. This does mean you’ll have to watch some ads, but you don’t have to sign in to an account to stream it.
Although Tubi works in various regions, the film is only available in the US. If you’re not in America, you can still watch it for free by using a VPN and setting your location to a US city or state.
What’s it about?
PaladinBeing Charlie centers on a young man named Charlie Mills who is addicted to drugs. His father, a Hollywood star who’s running for governor of California, stages an intervention, where he’s made to either go to a rehab center or face jail time.
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While in rehab, Charlie meets and falls for a fellow recovering addict named Eva. As said, the film is in part inspired by Nick Reiner’s experiences in addiction and recovery.
Speaking to People back in 2016, Nick said, “It’s not my life,” but “I went to a lot of these places, so I had a lot of these stories… I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas. I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street.
“It was not fun… If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless.”
Nick went on to explain, “That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff. I met crazy great people there, so out of my element. Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in LA and being around my family. But there was a lot of dark years there.”
The project was directed by his father, Rob Reiner, and was widely seen as a personal collaboration that strengthened their relationship.
In 2016, Nick and Rob appeared together for an interview with AOL’s Build, with Nick admitting that he and his father didn’t bond so well when he was a child.
“It really clicked for me because we didn’t bond a lot as a kid, like he really liked baseball, I liked basketball, and he would watch that [baseball] with my brother,” Nick said.
PaladinWhen working with his father on Being Charlie, it allowed him to see his dad in a different light. “When I saw him do that, it was something that I’m interested in, I was like, ‘Wow, he really knows a lot,’ and it made me feel closer to him.”
The resulting movie gives an insight into some of the struggles the Reiners faced, both for Nick and his parents, due to the disease of addiction.
Who’s in the cast?
A Teacher actor Nick Robinson plays Charlie Mills in Being Charlie, while The Princess Bride (another of Rob Reiner’s movies) star Cary Elwes portrays Charlie’s father, David Mills. Other key cast members include:
- Common as Travis
- Devon Bostick as Adam
- Morgan Saylor as Eva
- Susan Misner as Lisanne
- Ricardo Chavira as Drake
In a different conversation with Variety, Rob Reiner said, “It’s about not only what the character that Nick is playing is going through but his relationship to his father. And so for Cary… to get him to play essentially the father – the extension of me – I felt very comfortable and very relaxed about it because I trust him.”
Cary Elwes added, “He said to me, ‘It’s important for you to understand that you’re not playing me per se, you’re playing an extension of me.’ But I find it – I think I can speak for most of the actors – a great honor to be involved in a project that’s so personal to him.”
Being Charlie Rotten Tomatoes score
Despite the acclaimed individuals involved in the project, Being Charlie only received a 24% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, alongside a 39% audience rating.
PaladinMany of the reviews are mixed, with the Guardian giving it three out of five stars. “Director Rob Reiner’s comeback film, based on a screenplay by his son, is packed with cliches about teenage drug addiction, but not without charm,” it said.
The Newnan Times-Herald wrote in its five-out-of-ten review, “Well-intended and capably made, I suspect that Being Charlie will find utility in rehab circles.”
Elsewhere, NPR stated, “When you know the backstory behind Being Charlie, the wounds this film opens become so raw you can still see them bleeding.”
As for what viewers at home thought, one gave it two out of five stars and wrote, “If you are going to watch a movie about a troubled kid you want to at least care about what he is struggling with and maybe get some resolution in the end, but this movie just never gives you that.”
However, another gave it four stars, stating, “I actually loved this movie. It is a realistic portrayal into the life of an addict, and how it affects their friends and family. I also think Rotten Tomatoes is WAY too harsh of a critic.”