Charlie Bartlett Reviews

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I should check it out. Honestly, I really had a hard time to eventually judge this movie. To start with, during the whole thing, the makers try to convince you that it is a very original high-school comedy but it was, in fact, actually pretty generic. I thought also that the main character was pretty uneven. I mean, Charlie Bartlett was an appealing character and I liked how this outsider tried to be nice and decent towards everybody even the suicidal kid, the retarded giant in the bus or even with the guy bullying him. Unfortunately, they didn't think it was enough so they threw in the whole psychiatrist/dealer thing and that didn't work very well. Personally, I wish they spent more time with the other characters such as the principal played by Robert Downey Jr. or the girlfriend played by Kat Dennings. Even some smaller characters were quite interesting but they were unfortunately barely developed. Still, even though I was struggling to make up my mind about the whole thing, I still liked it though. I mean, to have Robert Downey Jr. portray a high-school principal was just brilliant and therefore, it gets an extra point. To conclude, even though it is actually pretty generic, I actually liked it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

For a film that apparently wants to bring a new spin to the teen comedy genre through the unusual plot of a kid serving as his peers' psychiatrist/druggist, Charlie Bartlett is extremely generic. It explores important issues of the teenage years, such as having anxiety over being accepted by others, being bullied, having suicidal thoughts, yet none of these things are brought to us in ways we haven't seen before. One of the film's main problems is that it wants to bring all these serious issues across with a side of comedy, and it would've been great if this had been pulled off successfully (see the British film The History Boys), but instead, the exploration of those serious issues and the attempt at comedy collide fruitlessly, keeping both from working as effectively as they should. The drama is only engaging on certain occasions, while the comedy really only gives room for a few "hehe" moments, but nothing that'll make anyone bust a gut.

The only performances here that are uniformly good are that of Kat Dennings (as Charlie's love interest and the principal's daughter), who brings a flair that would otherwise render the romantic aspect of the film as a total bore, and that of Mark Rendall as Kip Crombwell who manages the tough task of not coming across as a cliched emo kid and actually gives us the chance to sympathize with him. As the title character, Anton Yelchin is pretty uneven, though I'm glad he took on this role, because I do think he has a lot of potential (after watching him play the kidnapped boy in the severely underrated Alpha Dog), and hopefully this movie will help him move towards more recognizable roles in which his true talent might unfurl more effectively. Yelchin is very funny during the scene in which Charlie tries out for the talent show (playing the role of a girl who is explaining to his dad that she just got her period), but in most of the dramatic scenes, he seems to be staring blankly rather than conveying the emotions we need to see. Likewise, the usually great Robert Downey, Jr. looks extremely bored, for some reason. I don't necessarily agree that he needs to stop playing the alcoholic (especially considering how great he was in last year's Zodiac). He should take whatever role he wants; he just needs to do a better job than he's done in Charlie Bartlett.

The final scenes of the film involve a musical number by one of the characters. This scene feels completely misplaced and unnecessary to the film, and the fact that it is placed during the climax makes it an even worse sin. While I appreciated the sporadic quirks, it's hard to help feeling that Charlie Bartlett could've been a lot better. If you think this is the kind of movie you might be interested in, you might be better off waiting for the DVD, as it's the kind of film that might seem less disappointing on a smaller screen, when you don't have to pay $10 for it.