[2] The movie tells the story of a lonely graveyard shift doorman named Abner, a once-accomplished sculptor and former college art teacher, but now sadly, a mere shadow of his former self.

It Was You Charlie (the title refers to On the Waterfront)[3][4][5] explores the lonely life of Abner (Michael D. Cohen) a short, schluby, suicidally-depressed former teacher-artist turned graveyard shift doorman and the fierce sibling rivalry he endures (if not imagines) with Tom (Aaron Abrams), his tall, handsome, lady-killing brother.

Abner also harbours a tragic secret that has debilitated his professional and personal life while Tom not only seems to have everything going for him, but also scores with Madeleine (Anna Hopkins), the babe our haplessly loveable schlemiel has long held a torch for.

"[7]The New York Times noted the writer and director Emmanuel Shirinian’s has "taste for quirky detail" and the movie starts as an exercise in bleak absurdism and ends as a Frank Capra Christmas special, with little originality in between.

[16] Abner is a miserable creature and yet, under Shirinian’s sure hand, we end up caring very deeply about his strange, surreal plight and want nothing more than to see him climb out of his self-made quagmire.Toronto Metro Entertainment[17]