You’re Dating a Narcissist! (2026) – Review and Summary

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“You’re Dating a Narcissist!” Film Details

• Director(s): Ann Marie Allison
• Writer(s): Ann Marie Allison, Jenna Milly
• Distributor: Brainstorm Media
• Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 31 Minutes
• Public Release Date (In Theaters): March 27, 2026
• Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, Young Adult
• Content Rating: Not Rated
• Primary Language: English
• Images © of / Courtesy Of Brainstorm Media

Movie Summary

Judy is a psychologist and a renowned expert on narcissism. She even teaches a class on it, based on her book, at a university in New York City. But one doesn’t become an expert through theory alone, but also through experience. Unfortunately, though, Judy throws around the word “Narc,” for narcissist, freely, to describe her ex, any man who approaches her, her best friend Diane’s partner, and the guy who sends her daughter Eva on a whirlwind romance.

But, there is the need to question, beyond whether Judy herself is a narcissist, could she have accurately diagnosed all the people in her life?

Cast and Characters

Judy (Marisa Tomei)

• Character Summary: Judy is a published psychologist, a professor, and a mother of one. For the most part, she doesn’t have much of a social circle, certainly doesn’t date too much, which makes her daughter and friend Diane her world. For if anyone tries to be part of her life, they find themselves analyzed, especially in terms of whether or not they are a narcissist.

Eva (Ciara Bravo)

• Character Summary: Eva is an artist, finishing up her BA in California, with plans to get her master’s in the fall in New York. She is a romantic who understands her mother’s worries and fears, but she wants to love based on feelings, more than logic. Which, in her mother’s mind, makes her a prime target for narcissists.

Diane (Sherry Cola)

• Character Summary: Diane is Judy’s peer at the college where she works, who is dealing with some personal drama. The woman she loves is in a sticky situation, and Diane isn’t sure if she should stay and wait it out or simply leave.

Theo (Marco Pigossi)

• Character Summary: Theo is a doctor, the youngest of three, with two older sisters, and Eva portrays him as a romantic. One who, admittedly, moves fast, but despite them being in their twenties, the counter to that is Theo knowing what he wants – and that being Eva.

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

Wondering If Judy Is Right [81/100]

Because of Judy’s trauma, it seems she actively tries to seek our narcissistic behavior, to the point of making it sound as common as people self-diagnosing themselves as having depression or being neuro-spicy. After a while, it becomes a joke, and pushes you to remember that academic accomplishments, even a doctorate, doesn’t mean the said person has a strong handle on their personal life.

Yet, with Judy dedicating herself to the study of narcissism, to the point of having a book out, teaching a class, and the film never downplaying her accomplishments, it makes you wonder if she might be right? Is Diane’s girlfriend a narcissist, or just messy? Could Eva’s fiancé, Theo, be a narcissist, or is Judy’s trauma predicting the worst-case scenario since she hasn’t done the work to heal?

As time goes on, and Judy, often in comically exasperated ways, notes narcissistic traits and points out examples, you find yourself noting that maybe this is less so a comedy and more so a palatable warning for viewers.

On The Fence

Minimal Investment In Theo and Eva’s Relationship [73/100]

Strangely, while we see Theo at work, amongst his family, and have cute moments with Eva, I wouldn’t say you ever get that invested in him or their relationship. Yes, you see some of his sus moments and take note of what Judy said to analyze if she is right or just envious of her daughter. But, beyond what he may represent, him as a person? He isn’t made to be that interesting.

Heck, even as Eva’s partner, her soul mate, there isn’t this push to swoon or anything like that. Everything presented doesn’t feel real, loving, but instead feels like we’re watching a behind-the-scenes photoshoot for the film’s marketing materials.

Which could be the point, since their whirlwind engagement takes place in a matter of months. But, you’d think they would have made more of an effort to make you fall for him more. Especially to further paint Judy as someone who desperately needs an appointment with her own therapist and whose critiques are questionable.

Diane [74/100]

I think our main issue with Diane is that she is an enabler. Granted, is she using what Judy is going through to escape her own problems? Yes. But, she also goes back and forth between supporting/enabling Judy’s madness and trying to admonish her, knowing very well what the consequences could be when she joined.

It makes it so this would be comic relief character lean towards being annoying, since you see her too often get a pass for her role in all of this. Even to the point of Eva never calling her out, as her mom’s best friend, or as a pseudo-aunt who is adding to her stress and misery.

How Is Judy A Psycholgist Without Her Own Psychologist? [72/100]

The root issue of You’re Dating a Narcissist! is that Judy doesn’t have a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Granted, doctors make the worst patients, but based on how Judy acts, it is clear that Eva’s father, whom we barely get to know, did a number on her. On top of that, for more than a decade, it has led her into isolation and projecting her hurt.

Now, is she sometimes right, regarding predicting people’s behavior? Yes. However, her skepticism has long taken a turn toward cynicism. Also, with Eva making it seem Judy is a practicing psychologist, you’d think she’d be confiding in a peer in her field, as many are encouraged to do as a mental health professional.

And don’t get me wrong, I get if Judy was doing what she was supposed to, there would be no movie. However, that’s the sort of issue with You’re Dating a Narcissist! It doesn’t perfectly blend the real with the exaggerated, and it leaves notable clumps that makes it seem that either something is missing or wasn’t executed as well as it could or should have.

Overall

Our Rating (75/100): Mixed (Divisive)

You’re Dating a Narcissist! is entertaining but at times frustrating. It requires a willingness to put up with hijinks while it presents, in a semi-serious manner, narcissism, with the types of examples that could potentially be useful. Add in the majority of the relationships not being as strong as you may like, or the film needed them to be, or Judy’s trauma sometimes feeling shallow despite how much it affects her life? It presents that the idea behind the film was stronger than what could be delivered.

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