Charlie Bartlett begins as a somewhat typical coming-of-age teen comedy, but by the second act it had me thinking it's an original idea with some clever dialogue and stand-out performances. Though many are comparing it to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), I thought in some ways it mirrors the more recent Juno, last year's Oscar-nominated film.
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is a wealthy kid being raised by his often clueless mother (Hope Davis). When he gets kicked out of his posh private school for making illegal driver's licenses for the students, her only comment is what a good job he did.
Mom insists that Charlie now attend public school. He arrives there like a soft sponge in a sea of scouring pads, stepping from his limo in his preppie jacket and carrying an attaché case. But he's a bright young man and has the ability to soak up the atmosphere around him. In a matter of days Charlie becomes the "man on campus."
How does he accomplish this? Simply by realizing every teenager thinks their problems are life-threatening. Charlie has been seeing a shrink for some time. In fact, in one session the therapist advised him to act more normal in order to fit in at his new school. Charlie replies, "My family has a psychiatrist on retainer. What's normal about that?"
So the lad plows through psychology books and sets up a practice in the boys' bathroom where he sits in one stall while both sexes of students stream in to take the stall next to him and hear his words of wisdom. While advice is free, Charlie teams up with Murphey (Tyler Hilton) the school bully – one who beat him up several times during his first days at school – to make money and to calm the kids down. They start selling prescription drugs, first his mother's, then ones that Charlie's psychiatrist prescribes when Charlie pretends to have symptoms he learns about from his books.
While this scenario sounds grave, it's really handled more like a satire, as the focus of this movie is Charlie. Yelchin, a young actor who has done many TV roles, performs delightfully here and is absolutely priceless in this movie. Charlie waves his irresponsibility like a flag yet he's suave, savvy, mild-mannered, and never thinks twice about his next move. One of his first actions in the school is to befriend the underdogs and nerds. However, when things get to a fever pitch and the students are boycotting Principal Gardner's (Robert Downey Jr.) decision to put cameras in the student lounge, Charlie has to think twice about his actions.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments