Charlie Bartlett (2008)

Aiming fo a Pump Up The Volume type movie...

...and i was ok with that. it was a cute high school movie about a boy who just wanted to be accepted and unfortunately hits the nail on the head as for the way high school are now a days. of course they throw in some unbelievable aspects of this but thats what makes it a movie. i enjoyed it and believe this a movie for the new generation. July 15, 2008

yuck!

The only thing good about this movie is Roert Downey Jr. and the title charcater. They were both really good. Downy especially. Very real talent. Everything eles was so far out there... yuck. July 9, 2008

Class Dismissed.

Plot:

America takes on their version of `About a Boy', only he's older and wants to become a popular kid by selling drugs and counselling, working his way through the headmaster (Downey Jr.), his daughter and as the schools illegal pharmacist.

My Review:

After being kicked out of a private school, Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is sent to a public school hoping he can fit in more than the likes of the Vaudevillian school boys of higher class status. Bear in mind this is no way to be considered in the same terms and likes of say `Superbad', `Knocked Up' or clever gem `Juno'.

Charlie Bartlett is the type of character that is depicted that being rich and likable don't really work, even the rich and well-brought up crave a lower sense of likeness and popularity that doesn't come easy being higher-class, it's all about making a very simple and if naive rich kid become the most popular boy in school, in effect he does.
What do some teenagers wish for, security, comfort and the one thing in school: popularity. The film starts off with a scene that involves Charlie standing in front of crowds of adoring peers and strangers, which is an apt allegory to the films events that do eventually see the boy become `the man'.

He starts off with the typical picked-on student look of a blazer and a briefcase in which most students carry joint for a quick buzz before class, through the eventual encounter of a bully confrontation, and through that uses the bully to help launder drugs and therapy sessions in the toilets to students who just need to talk, operating craftily, yet daft, plighting schemes to win their approval.

Hope Davis plays his atypical mother who blames his current school crisis, though Charlie wouldn't call it that, on her genial conditions that have seem to have been passed down. Davis is given a lot less substance for a 90 minute short but her subtle comedy of a dopey but stern character has resounding success.

Charlie Bartlett really gets going seeing the type of student is need of some relief through his fictional conditions of say `panic-attack' prone or just in need of some Ritalin. Charlie's desire for acceptance range against the dangers of selling prescription drugs to his classmates. There is substance there to ponder and ponder you shall but not before you get a great laugh from Charlie's reaction to a dose of Ritalin.

Robert Downey Jr. is underused, although given a history for his character that could play out well, even on his part he puts on a big scene performance that doesn't really feel like it's the one you waited for. As a result the film is cut short like a class finishing too early for anything to sink in. It needed some more revision and maybe some homework to work things over. All in all, a good feel good short depiction of an exemplary teenage life.

Verdict:

it is an interesting premise that just doesn't tie up all the loose ends, however another witty comedy that also has a prescription of feeling good. One of those films that makes you wonder, what would you do to fit in? 7.5/10. July 5, 2008

Charlie Bartlett...Role Model?

This movie's reviews, more than any I've seen in quite a while, are all over the place, which is quite unusual for some of these teen angst movies because they are usually loved my one group, or age, and panned by another.

As someone in their late 50's, who was an Air Force "brat" that seemed to move every two years or so, and whose father "retired" from the service when I was in my teens, I found this to be a credible movie. In my instance, we moved to rural Alabama after having lived in Germany, South Carolina, Taiwan, and Michigan. In addition to the "foreign" accent that I had that was slightly northern, I, also, was one of those short, smart aleck PIA's.

In Charlie's case, after being kicked-out of every private school there is, he is faced with the inevitable situation of having to attend public school, where he has confrontations with the school bully, played exceptionally well by Tyler Hilton, tries to get serious with an attractive girl student, who he doesn't realize is the principal's daughter, and butts heads with the principal, played in an understated way by Robert Downey Jr. Toss-in a mother who is half-flaky, a situation with his father we never quite understand (Hey what's a little tax evasion among the rich) and you have Charlie's situation.

Along the way, Charlie, played by Anton Yelchin, finds, through "chemistry," a way to interrelate to the other students by becoming a pseudo drug-dealer/counselor, with the counselor concept becoming a way that he fulfills himself.

In Charlie's case, he is successful, and to this end, he constantly strives to help others as a means of finding something worthwhile about himself.

I thought "Charlie Bartlett" was a good movie, much better than most people seem to be giving it credit, but I can understand where they are coming from with regards to their criticism, for it doesn't seem this could happen, but trust me, this could, and probably does more than the teachers realize.

I only give this movie four stars because of two scenes, both come at the piano, where, first, Charlie and his mom, pleyed by Hope Davis, sing "Those were he Days," ala "All in the Family;" and the second when Charlie and the principal's daughter, Kat Dennings, play and sing at the piano. Both lacked any lead-in to the scene, and could have been left-out without much impact on the movie, although Kat's scene did show a dice of her you didn't always see otherwise.

Overall the movie showed that sometimes we choose life's roles, and sometimes those roles are chosen for us, but whatever is the case, we all have roles...at the very least they are to set a bad example, and at the most, they are to inspire.

By the end of the movie we see how Charlie, his mother, his girlfriend, and his principal all inspire.... June 29, 2008

"I'll See You In The Sequel!" ~ Ferris Bueller 2008

The '08 release `Charlie Bartlett' is one of those all too prevalent "teenagers know everything, adults don't have a clue" films, so if you choose to sit down and watch understand that you've made a conscious choice to substitute substance and reality for an hour or so in search of a little mindless entertainment. Now with the chosen parameters stated the obvious question is does this film deliver the entertainment value you're anticipating? For me the answer is yes.

Anton Yelchin is terrific in the part of Charlie Bartlett, troubled rich kid at a new high school looking for popularity. The film is clearly cut from the mold of the ever popular `Ferris Bueller's Day Off' and Anton is every bit as smooth and disarming as Matthew Broderick was in the '86 classic. Like `Ferris Bueller', Charlie soon becomes the undisputed God of the school to the consternation of `Power That Be', especially Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.) who has to deal with the irrepressible Charlie on and off campus when he starts dating his daughter Susan (Kat Dennings).

The cast is excellent, the music invigorating and the storyline consistently entertaining from beginning to end. If you're in the mood for an updated re-visioning of `Ferris Bueller's Day Off' with a somewhat darker, edgier atmosphere in keeping with the times you'll enjoy `Charlie Bartlett'. June 28, 2008

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