Charlie has cataplexy and faints whenever he is pleased, angry, or sad. He has never
dated and always tries to keep his mood somber. However, his life turns around when he meets
a fun, energetic, and passionate girl; everything he has ever tried to avoid.
The movie starts with a wedding. Charlie’s brother, Marvin, is getting married and is
the best man, along with his younger brother, Cooper. Cooper seems to be enjoying the ceremony,
while Charlie is struggling to keep his mood less than happy because he doesn’t want
to faint and be unable to witness his brother getting married. He can’t help it, though,
and he begins to collapse every time he looks at his brother and sister-in-law, Jan, taking
their vows. Cooper holds on to him and whispers depressing things in his ear to keep his mood
from getting too joyful. However, even that begins to fail, and the bride and groom realize
this. They ask the priest, Father Dave, to be quick and allow them to take their vows
so Charlie can see his brother getting married before he faints. They say their vows, but
they are so happy that Charlie lets himself feel the joy and collapses, falling off the
stage and causing chaos at the wedding. Charlie wakes up on the couch with his brother.
He asks what happened, and Cooper tells him that the wedding was a disaster and he fell
on the bride. He tells Charlie she needed her lip stitched so he wouldn’t faint because
of being happy about the wedding again. Charlie thanks God that it is over and he can go back
to being depressed again. The next day is sunny and beautiful, and Charlie has to go
to work. He steps out of the house with headphones on, playing melancholic music to maintain
his mood. As he walks, trying to keep his focus off anything that seems even remotely
happy, he faces beautiful babies, puppies, and happy families. He tries to avoid them,
but he starts to feel satisfied enough that he has to sit down for a minute on a staircase.
He gets up when he thinks the coast is clear and walks into the library where he works.
It is a calm, dim, and quiet place. It is the perfect place to work for Charlie. He
greets the security officer, Lavelle, his fellow librarian, Helen, and a kid, Victor,
who always has bad news ready for him in case he gets too happy. Charlie sits down at his
place and tries to focus on his tedious, monotonous work when the security officer points out
a young couple walking into the library. At first sight, Charlie looks at the woman and
thinks she looks fantastic with her caramel skin and long, dark hair. He quickly changes
his focus and spots her boyfriend with her. The boyfriend sits them down at a table, and
they start to argue about something, in whispers. Charlie and his friends all wonder what they
might be arguing about until the woman bursts into a rage of fury when she realizes the
guy is about to break up with her. He had brought her to the library so she would stay
quiet and wouldn’t yell at him. She is outraged and starts to yell at him loud enough for
the whole library to hear. Charlie realizes it’s time for him to interfere, and he goes
to her table just as she throws books at her now ex-boyfriend. Charlie tells her to let
all her frustration out and even allows her to tear some pages out of the library book
so that she would calm down. She does everything he says and feels better,
so she calms down and gets off the table without security interfering. She thanks Charlie for
what he did, and he tells her she’s welcome before turning around and leaving, trying
to keep himself from getting too happy. The girl, Francesca, is confused by his behavior,
but she doesn’t say anything and leaves the library.
The next day, with the same struggle to maintain his mood, Charlie comes to work again. As
he stacks the bookshelf, his fellow librarian tells him that there is someone here to see
him, and Charlie peeks around the corner to see that Francesca has come to visit him.
Charlie knows he will get too excited about this and tells his fellow librarian to tell
Francesca he passed away. She says that’s impossible because she already told Francesca
he’s here. Before Charlie can hide or think of another way of avoiding her, Francesca
shows up and says hi. Charlie tries to ignore her and not dwell on the fact that she came
to visit him and brought him a gift. She had brought him a copy of the book she had destroyed,
and in his attempt to be negative, Charlie tells her that it’s no use to him because
the book she destroyed was a first edition. Disappointed at this revelation, Francesca
tells him how sorry she is and openly flirts with him. Charlie, on the other hand, shoots
down all of her attempts at flirting. He escapes before things get too intense, and Francesca
leaves, thinking he’s not interested in her. Charlie knows he just gave up a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity, but he knows he wouldn’t be able to handle the happiness if she did ask
him out on a date, and he said yes. His fellow librarian tells him he can’t stay single
forever. He needs to go out and find someone who understands him and accepts him for who
he is, with his cataplexy and all. Charlie takes her advice and goes running after Francesca.
From afar, he stops her and tells her he will go on a date with her. Francesca is surprised
but happy nonetheless that he decided to ask her out. They decide to go out on the weekend
at 2, and Charlie has to sit down because the utter joy pulsing through him is becoming
too much. Charlie goes home and tells Cooper about his
date. Cooper is confused as to why Charlie wants to start going out suddenly, and Charlie
tells him all about Francesca, how loud she is, how funny, and how dangerous she is for
him. Cooper asks him if she knows about his cataplexy, and Charlie tells him she doesn’t.
Cooper asks him how he will keep himself from fainting, and Charlie shows him the thumb
tack he sticks into his toe. Cooper tells him it’s barbaric, but Charlie has done
it before and knows it works because the pain keeps him from passing out. Charlie takes
Francesca to a one-person play that is ridiculous. He and Francesca sit there, whispering about
how weird the actor is and how much they hate the play. The actor does not appreciate this
and tells them to leave his show. Embarrassed, Charlie and Francesca apologize before leaving
the show. Francesca laughs and makes fun of the actor, and Charlie allows himself to laugh
with her, thinking the thumb tack will keep him steady, and it does for the time being.
Charlie asks Francesca about her sick aunt, Sylvia, and she tells him she has cancer and
is undergoing chemotherapy. This helps to keep Charlie’s mood just sad enough. That
is until Francesca invites Charlie up to her apartment for a drink. Charlie tells her it’s
three in the afternoon, thinking she’s drinking way too early. She tells him that’s not
the point, and that’s when it hits him. A wave of excitement passes through him, and
he feels dizzy, so he pushes his toe to the ground to induce pain from the thumbtack.
He thinks the pain will be enough and accepts Francesca’s invitation. It isn’t until
he walks up the stairs to the building that he feels the excitement. He gets dizzy and
collapses to the floor. The last thing he sees is Francesca’s worried face calling
his name. Charlie ends up in the hospital. Cooper is
his emergency contact, so he shows up at the hospital looking for Charlie. He asks a nurse
for Charlie, but Francesca overhears him and tells him she is Charlie’s date. Cooper
mutters that it all makes sense now, which confuses Francesca, but then he introduces
himself as Charlie’s brother. The doctor tells them that Charlie was lucky he didn’t
get injured. Unfortunately, he has a cut on his head. Francesca is confused further when
the doctor says, ‘this time,’ and she asks what he means by that. Cooper tries to
intercede by telling her it’s a charming little flaw that Charlie has and it causes
him to faint sometimes, but the doctor tells her it’s a disease called cataplexy, and
yes, this has happened to him before, many times.
Francesca is a little surprised by this revelation but not upset, so she goes to Charlie’s
room to see how he is doing. Charlie is lying on the bed in a hospital gown, and when Francesca
shows up, he tries to act casual and tells her he might’ve just fainted from dehydration.
Francesca tells him she knows about the disease. She tells him he should have told her, so
next time, she and he could do something that wouldn’t make him faint. She starts to suggest
activities for their other dates, but Charlie shuts her down and tells her she should leave
him. Francesca insists that she can be with him and that they can make it work. Charlie
tells her he can’t ever be happy. He doesn’t want to make her life boring like he is, so
he wants her to leave. Francesca leaves for the time being, and Charlie
goes home and recovers before heading back to work. However, he doesn’t talk to Francesca
while he rests. When he finally returns to work, Cooper accompanies
him while he reads children’s stories to a group of kids there for a school trip. After
he’s read the story, Francesca shows up once again. It’s clear to Charlie that she
will not give up on him that easily. So, instead of rejecting her and sending her away like
he did last time, he sets her up with his brother. Francesca immediately tells him that
she doesn’t want to date his brother, but Charlie tells her that Cooper is more her
type and that she would be able to laugh with him. Francesca leaves once more, but this
time Cooper accompanies her, and they talk about Charlie and how stubborn he is, especially
for setting the two of them up. Cooper likes Francesca more for her looks than anything
else, and later, when the two brothers are out working on their fitness, he talks to
Charlie and asks him if he’s okay with him asking Francesca out. Charlie is visibly upset,
but he tells Cooper that he should ask her out and that he doesn’t mind.
Cooper goes to the bar where Francesca works and flirts with her a bit before asking her
out. While he’s there, he meets another attractive girl named Bethany. She’s petite
and quiet, and her interests are the most boring things Cooper has ever heard. So, he
gets the idea to set her up with Charlie. She’d be perfect for him, and the boring
part would keep Charlie conscious most of the time. When Cooper talks to Charlie about
this, Charlie thinks he’s just doing it because he feels guilty. Finally, Cooper convinces
him that she’d be a good match for him, so Charlie agrees.
The next day, Bethany shows up at the library where Charlie works. She asks him for a book
about amaranth and how to cook it, and Charlie gives her the book after finding it. She introduces
herself as Bethany and asks Charlie out. He is a little surprised at her forwardness but
accepts her offer. She tells him she’ll cook amaranth for him at her house, and Charlie
tells her he’ll look forward to it. Charlie meets up with Cooper later, who tells him
he’s having difficulty keeping up with his conversations with Francesca. Charlie advises
him to take her someplace loud, so they don’t have to talk so much. Cooper takes his brother’s
advice and takes Francesca to a loud bar with a band, where they barely speak to each other
and dance the night away. Meanwhile, Charlie and Bethany have dinner at her house, and
when Charlie tells her about his illness, she puts on some boring documentary for them
to watch together. Even though it is quiet and boring, it’s still a comfortable and
pleasant experience for them. Charlie's brother and his new bride return
from their honeymoon. While Marvin is explaining their historically fascinating trip to Bethany,
Charlie, and Francesca sit side by side, making fun of their boring presentation. It is strange
because Charlie is also laughing with her, and it does not affect him at all. After the
customary honeymoon picture display, Jen suggests that Charlie, Bethany, Cooper, and Francesca
should go to a special B&B they had gotten reservations for. The four of them decide
it would be a fun trip and they decide to go. Charlie goes to the bathroom and Cooper
talks to him there and tells him he’s having second thoughts about being with Francesca,
because she doesn’t seem to want to get intimate with him, and he doesn’t know how
to emotionally connect with her. Charlie convinces him to stay with her, so they can keep seeing
her. This makes Cooper suspicious, but Charlie tells him he just needs to give her time and
she’ll come around. The next day, the four of them leave for the
B&B. After surviving Francesca’s horrible driving, they arrive and check in. The place
isn’t quite interesting, but it’s boring and quiet: exactly what Charlie needs. As
Cooper and Charlie get the luggage inside, Cooper tells him that he’ll take Francesca
up to the bedroom. When Charlie hears this, he convinces them to go out and check out
the town. Even though they all feel tired, they agree to go. They go to an antique shop,
where Francesca finds an old mixer that looks like the one she had. She tells them it was
so loud it would wake her up from the deepest sleep. Her and Charlie talk about her parents
and the sad details of her life; everything Cooper has trouble talking about. Francesca
finds a piano and she starts to play, and when she does, Charlie pretends to be Dracula
to the tone that she is playing. It flows so naturally, that it looks like it’s rehearsed.
It’s visible to Cooper and Bethany how much chemistry they have. Even that night, at dinner,
they keep laughing and talking about random things that make them laugh.
Cooper gets so jealous, that he starts to tell the story about when Charlie won the
sixth-grade talent show. Except that when he won, Charlie collapsed because of his cataplexy
and the whole show was in chaos because of it. Bethany starts to cry and Francesca calls
Cooper out for being such a jerk. Cooper tells them he’s going to bed, but Bethany tells
them she wants to play the cello for them. Cooper agrees without heart, and they sit
down to hear her. They are equally surprised and amused when she starts to sing ‘Zombie’
on the cello. Francesca cuddles with Cooper, and this makes Charlie sour and after the
performance is over, he knows there is nothing he can do to stop Cooper from taking Francesca
to his bedroom. Cooper starts to seduce Francesca in his own
goofy, laughable way, while the little Bethany Charlie had found to be so gentle and calm,
turns out to be the kind for roleplay and some rough action. Both of the couples start
to make out, but luck isn’t in for Cooper because two minutes in, Bethany knocks on
their door, calling for Cooper because Charlie passed out again. Cooper checks on him, but
when they realize he’s fine, he goes back to his room. He asks Francesca if she wants
to continue from where they left off, but she is looking at her phone. Her aunt is sick
and she has to bail on him. Cooper tries to sympathize, but his hormones cloud his judgment
and he tries to seduce her again. Francesca does not like this and gets upset that he
doesn’t even care about her problems and only wants her for intimacy. She leaves the
room, and Charlie leaves him to come out for some fresh air. He asks about Sylvia and Francesca
tells him she’s gotten a little worse. She comments on how ever since Charlie told her
he didn’t want to see her or be with her, they’ve been seeing each other every day
ever since. Charlie feels guilty and he confesses to her and tells her that being with her is
what he wants, but he has been lying to her. He only set her up with Cooper because Cooper
acted like the thumb tack for him. He got to talk to her and laugh with her. He got
to joke around with her, but whenever he felt like he would get too happy, he would see
her with Cooper and he would be just sad enough not to pass out.
Francesca gets very upset at this revelation and tells him that he is not a good person
for doing this, for using his own brother like he did. She walks out on him, but just
as Charlie goes after her, he spots Bethany standing in a corner. It is clear that she
heard the entire conversation. She tells Charlie there is something wrong with him. He tells
her that there is, referring to his cataplexy, but she says it's not the cataplexy. There
is something wrong with him. She breaks up with him, because she knows he doesn’t have
any real feelings for her. After this entire event, Charlie becomes depressed.
He no longer needs to wear headphones with sad music playing, nor does he need to ignore
cute babies and puppies. He is rude to some guy with a dog that he bumps into by accident.
He has become perpetually sad. He goes to work at the library, where his friends are
concerned about him and he comes back home for a few days. Things are still tense between
Cooper and Francesca. Cooper finds a package at his door, which he knows is from Charlie.
It’s a red box and it tells him to give it to Francesca. Cooper understands and he
goes to Francesca’s place to give it to her. Francesca thanks Cooper and opens the
box to find the same mixer she was talking about at the antique shop. She thinks Cooper
bought it for her and Cooper runs along with it, thinking she will forgive him for his
rude behavior at the B&B. She hugs, kisses, and thanks him again for the gift. Cooper
tries to be more caring and asks about Francesca’s aunt. Francesca tells him about her chemotherapy
and everything she’s going through, thinking about how much she loved her and how her impending
death made her sad. Try as hard as he can, Cooper doesn’t have it in him to be sympathetic
and he doesn’t understand how to handle this situation like Charlie does. He tells
Francesca he has to leave and she is confused and mad at him for being so caring one minute
and so cold the next. He tells her the gift isn’t actually from him, but he doesn’t
tell her it’s from Charlie, and leaves. Francesca turns over the label on the gift
and reads it, suddenly realizing who the gift is actually from. The next day, she goes with
Sylvia to get her chemotherapy. The nurse greets them and tells them to follow her.
They go to a long room of chairs in which there are a lot of cancer patients sitting,
with chemicals attached to their body. Sylvia doesn’t like it here, but that’s why Francesca’s
here as company. Sylvia’s conversation is mainly about Francesca and Charlie, though.
She asks Francesca about it, and asks her if she’s fallen in love yet. Francesca asks
her how she can fall in love with someone like Charlie, who rejected her in the first
place. Her aunt insists that she give Charlie a chance and fight for him.
Meanwhile Charlie and Cooper argue about Francesca. They are standing on a bridge, and Cooper
accuses Charlie of being in love with Francesca and then setting her up with him, even though
he knew she wouldn’t like him. Cooper tells him he’s tired of always taking care of
him, and seeing him suffer. Charlie yells at him and tells him he has no idea what his
disease is like, and he doesn’t know what it’s like to have it. He doesn’t even
have the disease, but still screws his dating life up. Charlie starts to get a little too
worked up, and Cooper tries to calm him down. Charlie takes a swipe at Cooper, but at the
same time, he passes out and ends up falling over the edge of the bridge into the oncoming
traffic. Luckily, Cooper grabs a hold of his backpack, but his grip begins to loosen very
quickly because of Charlie’s weight. He tells Charlie to wake up, but he is too slow.
Just as he is about to slip and fall into the oncoming traffic, a big guy with a dog
shows up to help and grabs hold of the backpack. This is the same guy that Charlie had been
rude to on the streets when he was depressed. After helping them, he leaves.
The accident makes both Cooper and Charlie realize that life is too short. Cooper tells
Charlie to go and get Francesca to tell her that he loves her and wants to be with her,
without being afraid of his condition. Charlie calls Francesca immediately and she is at
the hospital with her aunt. He asks her where she is and she tells him. He tells her to
stay there and he makes his way to the hospital. He runs into the hospital, but it really seems
like luck is against him, because he is faced with miracles from a man walking after being
on a wheelchair for years, to a beautiful baby that’s just been born. That alone is
almost enough to bring him onto his knees, but he kept thinking of depressing thoughts
to keep himself going. He had to get to where Francesca was. He finally makes it to the
room, where Sylvia and several other cancer patients are getting chemotherapy. Francesca
stands and greets him, but Charlie stops her. She looks so beautiful that he asks her to
turn around, because he doesn’t think he can say what he needs to say with her looking
at him like that. Francesca turns around and asks Charlie to say his thing. He tells her
he can’t go on rollercoaster rides with her and he can’t watch comedy movies and
it’s hard for him to even watch her laugh without fainting. He tells her he can’t
drive with the radio on, in case the Pointer Sisters start to sing and he swerves the car
into a ditch. He tells her if they have kids, they have to be spoiled or boring because
he can’t handle cute and adorable. Francesca turns around and tells him they can adopt
the ugliest children if it means they can be together. She closes in, close enough that
their lips almost touch. But she hesitates, because she knows that Charlie’s knees are
going weak. She waits for one more second before Aunt Sylvia tells them to kiss already,
and they do. They kiss and it lasts for a few seconds, before Charlie ends up on the
floor. This time around, though, he’s okay with
it. Charlie is finally okay with being happy, even if it means he has to pass out occasionally
to experience it.