Friday Morning Movies: "Charlie Bartlett"
Review by Stan Dyer
If you have not figured it out yet, I pretty much choose the movie I am going to view each week sometime that day or the day before. I look for the newest movie showing in the time slot available to me. So far, it has worked pretty well. Almost every movie I have viewed the past few weeks turned out to be number one at the box office the following week. I must be doing something right, but I took a big gamble this week. I chose the movie "Charlie Bartlett".
I did a little research ahead of time, and I am not the only one to see the similarities between this film and "Ferris Beuller's Day Off". I guess it is that part where Charlie is speaking to the audience and remarks about the duty of teenagers being to mess with their parents. Ronny Scheib of
Variety noted the similarities, but then proceeded to dissect the movie as if were some interpretation of Shakespeare. It is not Shakespeare. It is not even close. Neither was "Ferris Beuller's Day Off". Movies like this are obviously for the
teen crowd and made so that teens will identify their own troubles in the movie and feel some type of connection to the story. The trouble with "Charlie Bartlett" is that it managed to get an "R" rating, (even though I cannot really say why), and most teens will not be able to buy tickets.
Charlie Bartlett is a privileged child from a rich family who lives with his mother in a large estate and longs to be popular. His father is in prison, (regular prison and not one of those
Club prisons where people like Martha Stewart put on the striped shirts), for income tax evasion. Charlie manages to be expelled from every privileged school he has attended and ends up at a public school. Just as in "Forrest Gump", he boards the school bus and heads of for
Fast Times at school, but, in a twist, he sits down next to the "challenged" student and makes a friend; a very strong friend, but the friendship does not last the entire movie, and the fast times are drug induced. Upon arriving at school, he discovers everyone notices the tie and school blazer he is wearing. He does not fit in, and almost immediately incurs the wrath of the school bully, Murphy Bivens. Things do not start out well for Charlie, and, after explaining his issues to his shrink, gets a prescription for Ritalin just so the doctor can find out if Charlie has ADHD.
The Ritalin the doctor prescribes has the effect on Charlie of making him uncontrollably active and ends up with the police bringing Charlie home after neighbors complain when he runs through the street in his underwear screaming at the sky. Charlie sees an opportunity and seizes it. He conspires with Murphy Bivens, (who greeted him on his first day with a
swirly in the toilet), to make both money and friends by selling the medication he gets from his doctor to his fellow students. After the first batch is sold out, a semi- rave takes place at the school dance, (complete with girls tearing off their tops and running bare-breasted down the halls). Charlie gains instant popularity from his drug sales and the idea expands. Soon, everyone is lining up for a chance to share their issues, stall to stall, in the Boys Bathroom like Catholics lining up for the confessional on Saturday afternoon. Charlie uses his psychiatrist to help him diagnose and treat other students, (including acquiring medication and selling it to them), but, when one student uses his "Charlie prescription" to attempt suicide, (kind of like "Heathers" without the bus), the bathroom psychiatric practice is halted. All tied up in this is Charlie's relationship with the Principal's daughter, a school-wide movement to have cameras removed from the student commons, and Charlie's struggles with his own demons.
In the beginning, there was a lot to like about this movie despite the similarities to other movies. It is somewhere between "Ferris Beuller" and "Napoleon Dynamite" with a hint of "The Breakfast Club", "Sixteen Candles" and "American Beauty". It did not have any real, cinematic value, but I liked it. Somewhere in the middle, it got convoluted and I wondered where the director was taking me. I was beginning to think that they could have saved film and my time by ending the movie earlier. Suddenly, the climax finally comes and the movie actually ends with a meaningful message for the audience. Everyone seems to arrive at self-actualization as the Principal's daughter sings a song she got from Charlie's piano about having a song and singing out. The idea is that we all, old and young, have problems, issues and desires. We all have the choice to act upon those inner feelings, or to let them fester inside of us, making us unhappy. What starts out as a crazy, teenage movie, and expands to boring, actually ends with a decent message for young people who will not be able to get it because they are not old enough to get in the theatre.
This movie rates a "B+". Don't ask me why. I just kind of like it. I do not think it will win any Academy Awards, I do not think it is very innovative, and I do not think it will appeal to a large audience of people old enough to see it. If they cut out the parts the censors found offensive, I believe there might be an audience in High School-aged kids, but it would change the movie. You should only go to see this movie if you want to get in touch with your adolescent side, or if you are looking for adventure and it is the show starting when you arrive at the theatre. I will note that Robert Downey, Jr. does a weak job of playing an alcoholic despite his years of research and experience. I think he does a good job of acting, just not as an alcoholic.
Just the facts:
"Charlie Bartlett"
Director: Jon Poll
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Coming of Age, Teen Interest
Run Time: 1hour 37 minutes, but it seems like two hours.
Cast: Anton Yelchin as Charlie Bartlett, Hope Davis as his mother, Marilyn, Kat Dennings as Susan Gardner, the Principal's daughter and Charlie's love interest, Robert Downey, Jr. as Principal Nathan Gardner, and Tyler Hilton as the bully, Murphy Bivens.