I liked the trailer for this one, and they were screening it in LA fairly frequently, so I was trying to find room in the schedule to see it, until I heard that they had yanked it and pushed it back to ’08. I guess that gives me time to catch up with it at some point, but I’m still curious... is it as interesting as it appeared to be?
Ahoy-hoy - I've been a longtime obsessive reader of AICN, but this is my first time submitting a review. I'll try to keep things brief...
Last night I went and saw a preview screening of the movie "Charlie Bartlett" at the Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis, MN. The movie stars Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog), Hope Davis (American Splendor), Kat Dennings (The 40 Year Old Virgin), and Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac), and is directed by Jon Poll - who, as far as I can tell, has edited a great number of movies, but this would be only his first or second shot at directing (imdb.com has his first directing credit as something called "The Tree".)
Before the showing began, a man (who I can only assume worked at the theater) came in front of the audience and explained that this was a "very advance" screening of the movie, which he claimed was to be released in 2008 - which confused me, because I'm 100% certain it's being released really soon. My assumption is that he was just incredibly, incredbily high off his ass.
I'll go over the basic plot overview, while trying to be as spoiler-free as I can, then I'll mention my personal pros and cons of the movie.
Charlie Bartlett (Yelchin) wants to be popular. Yeah, he's incredibly wealthy, and has the creativity and talent to do whatever he wants - but he often daydreams of going out on stage and have his friends and peers chanting his name in admiration. Yet it's a dream that's far from reality, because he is constantly bouncing around from private school to private school due to being expelled. His grades are fine, and his in-class performance is good as well - but he's been acting out and becoming involved in illegal activities, such as making fake I.D.s for his entire class, and these schools won't tolerate it anymore.
Charlie's mom Marilyn (Davis) has her own problems, as she's been heavily medicating herself since her husband has gone to jail several years back. She won't exactly win mother of the year anytime soon, but she loves her son, and wants to see him succeed. After his latest expulsion, she comes up with the idea that Charlie should not only attend a public school, but also go see the family psychiatrist.
Alas, he starts attending the public school, where he becomes outcasted from the get-go, and is beat up by the school bully Murphy Bivens (Tyler Hilton) on the first day. His psychiatrist's only response to Charlie's issues is to prescribe Ritalin, which Charlie takes for a couple of days. After taking more than the directed amount and essentially becoming high, Charlie realizes that there's a market for his prescriptions, and after befriending and convinving Murphy to become his "business partner," they go into dealing these drugs together.
All the while the principal of the school, Nathan Gardner (Downey Jr.), is dealing with demons of his own, such as the memory that his wife cheated on him and left him. For a time, he battled alcoholism, and after going into rehab, he worked hard and eventually became a principal at the same place where his daughter Susan (Dennings) is now attending, yet he is unsure if the job is even for him. He still maintains a somewhat decent relationship with Susan, but she has started to drift away as most high-school kids do.
As Charlie starts on his business venture, him and Susan gradually become closer as friends, then start a relationship with each other. At the same time, Charlie gets more comfortable at the school and starts listening to other students' problems, and becomes an unofficial psychiatrist of the school as he dispenses the prescriptions that he's recieved by duping the family shrink. He has started to gain the popularity that he craves.
As the movie progresses, Charlie and Principal Gardner come to blows on several occasions, not only over Charlie's entrepreneurial activities, but also the relationship that Charlie and Susan have started. This feeds into the end of the film, where some of the main characters have revelations about themselves and their feelings towards others, and are probably ultimately better for it. I won't give away exactly what happens, as I said before I would TRY to stay spoiler free.
Likes and Dislikes:
LIKES
Anton Yelchin turns in an excellent, multi-layered performance as Charlie. He's got charisma and charm, and has the ability to carry the movie at several times where, in the hands of a less gifted actor, it would've stumbled. I'd say he's definately an actor people should pay attention to over the next couple of years.
Hope Davis's performance as the loopy mother is yet another reason why I think she is one of the most gifted, yet underappreciated, actresses working today. She has great comedic timing, but also has the ability to bring emotional gravity to any scene. Hopefully she starts getting the recognition she deserves.
DISLIKES
The movie had a hard time staying with one central theme. It bounced back and forth between being a typical high-school/teen comedy, and then a "kids in america" drug-abuse movie. It got hard to get into a rhythm with the feeling of the movie, and it suffered as a result.
There was little chance to really connect to any characters in depth, other than Charlie and Marilyn, as everyone else felt very superficial. Robert Downey Jr. does fine with the character of Nathan Gardner and what is given to him in terms of a character - yet I guess his idea of a depressed
alcoholic is to take a swig of booze, followed up by gazing dramatically off screen for several moments. I'm a very big fan of his (I thought he was damn good in Zodiac), but he didn't give me many chances to really look into his character and understand his true motivations.
Every other character was just a cliched mess - the depressed/anti-social kid, the slutty cheerleader, the football jock who wants to give up the game to pursue art/school/whatever - but won't do it because his dad would disown him or some shit like that. And with a movie like this, where people are working on exploring their inner-self for answers and peace, stereotypical characters like these might have worked very well, had they been fleshed out a little bit better.
But these kids would rather confide in the new kid who is dealing drugs and take his advice without question. Not that Charlie doesn't mean well, but throughout the movie, he didn't offer any advice that was especially groundbreaking, or even original - he would just say things like "just be yourself", and the person would magically be all better. It was hard to suspend my disbelief at times.
Ultimately, some of the performances in the movie are stronger than the actual movie itself. There was nothing breathtaking about the directing, which isn't necessarilly a bad thing - but it makes it hard to formulate an opinion about something that I barely noticed either way.
I'm curious to see what Anton Yelchin does as a follow up. I'm largely unfamiliar with his past work, but now I'm definately a fan, and am excited to see where his career goes.
If you end up using this review, you can call me Joey Pants.
OVERALL - **1/2 stars out of five.
