Charlie Bartlett (MGM, Feb. 22) is anything but your stereotypical high-school dramedy.
The new film from Director Jon Poll has the distinction of being an R-rated high-school comedy that does not involve some guys trying to get deflowered or winning an intense sporting match. Instead of dealing with clichés that normally plague the high-school genre, Charlie Bartlett takes a different route, existing more as a social commentary on the use and abuse of prescription drugs.
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin, Alpha Dog) is a privileged, intelligent 17-year-old who has the distinction of being kicked out of every private school in the area. When he is forced to go to a public school for the first time, he knows he is in for a change.
Bartlett lives with his unstable, drug-addict mother Marilyn (Hope Davis, The Hoax) and has been treated like an adult since his father left them.
Bartlett is well dressed, rich and sarcastic, which doesn’t go over well with his new schoolmates. He quickly finds his head in a toilet, courtesy of the school bully, Murphey (Tyler Hilton, Walk The Line).
When Bartlett talks about his newfound problems with his on-call family psychiatrist, he gets a prescription for Ritalin, which ends up making his life even more difficult. An enterprising kid, Bartlett decides to start selling the drug, with help from Murphey, eventually becoming a pharmacist of sorts for the entire school. Bartlett meets his clients in a boys’ bathroom after going to various psychiatrists to obtain the drugs he feels each person needs.
Meanwhile, Bartlett meets Susan (Kat Dennings, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), the daughter of the school principle Mr. Gardner (Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac), whom he falls for. Eventually, Bartlett’s business ventures go awry, and he has to deal with all the problems he has caused, despite his good intentions.
Charlie Bartlett is a decent movie-not great-but not bad, either. It is often too dramatic to be a comedy, but too funny and light-hearted to be taken as a drama. The film is not necessarily a dark comedy either, so it exists in some sort of genre limbo.
Yelchin does fairly well with his first leading role. He has a bright future, with three movies in production, including the new Star Trek movie. All the other supporting players do well with what they are given, especially Davis as Bartlett’s loopy mother.
The real highlight of the film, however, is Downey, who turns in another great performance. His turn as the alcoholic dad and principal is fantastic and probably the biggest reason to go see this movie.
Overall, Charlie Bartlett just goes to show that everyone has their own problems, from the bully to the new kid to the star of the football team, and they do not necessarily need drugs to deal with them.
