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 Rated: R
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings, Tyler Hilton, Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis
Directed by: Jon Poll
Although the movie Charlie Bartlett
has an innovative plot, the improbability of the main character"s antics makes
the storyline hard to swallow. But I
have to admit, I was very impressed with the acting on the part of Hope Davis
and Anton Yelchin. However, the film"s
teenage target audience will have to suffer with an R-Rating.
Psychologically damaged due to a
melodramatic home life, Charlie (Yelchin) gets expelled from his wealthy
private school for selling falsified drivers licenses in an attempt for
acceptance by his peers. After discussion
with his eccentric mother (Davis) about his future educational choices, Charlie
decides to enter public school.
The
school, being in a low-income area, harbors a cross section between
street punks and future homemakers. Charlie, however, finds the environment
challenging—just the place where he can use his ‘psycho babble’ skills to earn
friends and fame. When he gets too
involved with Susan (Dennings), the daughter of Principal Gardner (Downey, Jr.),
Charlie’s scam takes a different twist.
The
film’s pretty comical if you don’t take anything that seriously, and it’s
consistently nonsensical. Charlie gets
to go to several shrinks and gather up all kinds of drugs to help his fellow
student’s problems. At one point he
sells the students Ritalin at a class dance and the scene gets pretty wild with
a lot of crazy antics and young girls running naked. Other times, he dishes out Xanax and mood altering pills in an attempt to get the students to ‘like’ him
for ‘curing’ their problems.
Poll lets the film get very preposterous within
several ludicrous scenes. When Charlie’s
popularity reaches it’s peak, male and female students start lining up to meet
with him in the boy’s rest room, called the "boy’s pharmacy". In another scene Charlie has a fight with
Principal Gardner, and then later tries to save his life.
If you like your
comedy with a lot of criminal mischief and drug use without consequence, this film will fit the bill.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Charlie Bartlett is
a film with mindless fun geared for teens that get a kick out of going against
the Administration.
This Reviewer's Rating:   3 / 5
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