Charlie Bartlett (2008)

"This sucks." "Seriously sucks." (Dialog from Charlie Bartlett) I couldn't agree more with this bit of dialog.Charlie Bartlett is one of those films that makes you wonder if it was just made up as they went along. And when a Big Name Star like Robert Downey Jr. is in a film like this it makes you wonder what sort of favor he owed someone.This film is meandering and pointless. And whatever point the film is trying to make WHO CARES? As with many dull films Charlie Bartlett is well acted, looks fine, and is completely full of clichés. And like most teen comedy-dramas with wasted potential it leaves you thinking of John Hughes and how much better he would have handled a film like this.

If you cried over Anton Yelchin in "Alpha Dog", you will most probably adore him as Charlie Bartlett. As the title character, he plays a rich kid with a fantasy of becoming the most popular student in high school. The means he adopts to achieve this goal often gets him expelled from exclusive private schools. The most recent being mass production of fake driver's licenses. His aristocrat mother (Hope Davis) is left with no choice but to send him to the community public school. At first he suffers a culture shock and even painfully faces the school bully, an act that is now cliché in high school related films. A black eye later, Charlie decides to handle the situation himself, by setting up a make-shift stall handing out prescription medication and counseling those in need. This stunt not only makes him highly popular over night, yet wins the affection of the principal's daughter, much to the dismay of the principal himself thereby becoming Charlie's only opposition.A thin line exists between comedy and drama as the film deals with common high school issues like bullying, acceptance versus depression, peer pressure and ultimately parent-child relationships. It also deals with the modern crisis of unchecked domestic drug usage and substance abuse.In what seems like a career boosting role, Yelchin even surpasses Robert Downy Jr as Principal Gardner, exhibiting a variety of skills in singing, dancing and comedy, even show casing his abilities in fight scenes along side romance. Downey Jr accurately portrays an over protective father struggling to raise a defiant teenager while giving in to alcoholism, a parallel reality he is said to have finally overcome.This film will appeal to mature teenagers, though parental caution is recommended. Parents too can learn a thing or two about what their kids are capable of, if things go unsupervised. At the core, "Charlie Bartlett" is a heart felt story that transcends Yelchin from a child actor into bigger roles as an adult.

I would just like to say that the movie is great - I loved it. It cracked me up at times and made me sad at times. However, I'd just like to say (STRICTLY OPINIONATED) that it totally sucked and lacked emotion when Kat Dennings sang at the end. I believe it was supposed to make us sad and emotionally involved in the moment, heck, there was a lady crying in the movie (the one behind the suicidal kid) but in my opinion it was one of the worst moments in the movie that sort of killed the ending. Overall, I didn't really like Kat's performance in the movie and I believe they could have found someone better for the job. She is a good actress, and I liked her in other parts and have nothing against her, but to me, she didn't really bring out or represent the character she's playing in that movie; I didn't even understand her at first.. is she one of those negative, Gothic, black-wearing people (that's what she looked like) or is she the lover type? I honestly don't get it.

I hate to write a bad review but, without the influence of Todd Phillips's "Road Trip", Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" and Hal Ashby's "Harold and Maude" this film would had never existed. Down to the use of songs like Eels - "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" from "Road Trip" and "Harold & Maude's" Cat Steven's song "If You Wanna Be Free Be Free".It's pretty much been Done before.Here's a kid, who gets kicked out of an elite prep school, only to join a public school where he sports the garb of his previous schools crested jacket and signs up for a drama class and in the end, the play he created, will unite the characters to a happy ending.I've seen this before... My advice is to see the films I mentioned above first, than let me know if you agree with my review.