Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I’ve noticed a trend recently. A good trend. At Sundance I saw a film called THE ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT and there was something about it that stuck out to me. I really dug it… it’s a good dark comedy, but it wasn’t the dark part that jumped out to me.

I look at SUPERBAD and I get a similar feeling.

There’s a heart to these teen comedies now, not just a shallow façade that you find with the vulgar big studio comedies or the watered down and non-threatening comedies. It’s the John Hughes formula and it’s coming back around. That makes me incredibly happy.

CHARLIE BARTLETT is, perhaps, the most John Hughes-ish movie of the few I’ve mentioned. I’m trying to lock down exactly why and I think I’ve narrowed it down a bit.

Story-wise, this is the closest to a John Hughes movie. In fact at the screening Harry leaned over to me as the credits rolled and said it’s like we just saw what Ferris Bueller did at school when he wasn’t ditching. During the movie I kept thinking of Ferris Bueller, so it made me laugh to hear someone else voice that feeling not 10 seconds after the closing credits began.

Also, it’s a great introduction for an up and coming young actor. I’m familiar with Anton Yelchin’s work mostly from the really strong Showtime series HUFF and he’s been in the business long before that (most notably in HEARTS IN ATLANTIS)… and he’s just about to get even bigger as Chekov in JJ Abrams’ STAR TREK, but I think this will be the role people look back as starting his career, just as Ferris became so closely tied with Matthew Broderick’s rise even though he had done both LADYHAWK and WARGAMES before it.

Charlie Bartlett craves popularity. Not so much in a vain way, though. He doesn’t want to be the quarterback. He doesn't want to be the bully, the rocker, the dweeb... He wants to be himself and he wants everybody to like him. He doesn’t want popularity in any particular clique, he wants an overall popularity.

Instead of making the principal character a Looney Tunes Yosemite Sam creation like Ed Rooney (not to take a shot at Bueller… Jeffrey Jones rules in that movie) the creative minds behind CHARLIE BARTLETT instead make the principal a mirror image of Bartlett himself… This is who he’ll be if life continues to beat up on him.

Robert Downey Jr. plays the principal and father to the main love interest. I mentioned earlier in the review that this film will be regarded as the first real exposure of a promising young actor… let me amend that.

What’ll be really interesting about this project is seeing how it hits right before Yelchin goes on to play a big role in Star Trek and Downey goes on to be the lead in a huge superhero movie. Downey is well known and isn’t in the same boat as Yelchin, but this is the calm before the storm that I’m sure Iron Man will create. It’s a small movie that kind of foreshadows their future roles. Yelchin has a life and energy in this performance that is different from his more internalized roles that came before.

For Downey, this is a lead in to Tony Stark. Principal Gardner is a tortured soul and much like Stark he turns to booze to cope with his fucked up life.

You can tell in his early scenes in the film that Gardner hates being seen as the enforcer of law by these kids. He started out as a popular history teacher and he craves a return to that life and popularity just as much as Bartlett craves gaining it for the first time.

What’s interesting is these guys are put against each other, even though they are kindred spirits. It makes for some real good chemistry and a unique relationship.

And Downey plays the hell out of it. Goddamn this guys knows what he’s doing. I don’t know if there’s a more natural actor working today, someone that feels unscripted in every project he does. I can’t wait to see IRON MAN.

The supporting cast is strong as well, especially the two ladies of the film: Hope Davis as Charlie’s prescription-drug addicted loopy mom and Kat Dennings (Catherine Keener’s daughter from 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN) as Downey’s daughter and Charlie’s first love.

I know I’ve mostly talked about the more dramatic aspects to this film, but I hope you don’t get the impression that this is a flat out drama. It’s also really damn funny, it’s just not a cartoon. Quirky characters come at you left, right and center for the entire length of the film, but it stays grounded in a reality you can recognize.

It’s honest, it’s funny and it wears its heart on its sleeve. I had a great time with this movie and it gets a strong recommendation from me.

-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com