The Campus Lantern

Charlie Bartlett Review

by Daniel McCue on 30/04/09 at 3:56 pm

Charlie Bartlett, performed by Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog) was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Hyper-intelligent and musically gifted, his bedroom wall is decorated with countless framed letters from all the private high schools that have expelled him. His adoring but almost permanently medicated mother finds herself at a bit of a loss, especially since Charlie’s Dad is not around.

Still sporting his private school blazer and politely trying to make friends, Charlie quickly becomes the target of bullies who use him as a punching bag at his local public school. Ever the entrepreneur, he nevertheless wins his schoolmates over with a side business. Marketing his prescribed medications and dispensing psychiatric advice in the boys toilets during lunchtime, Charlie has gained the all-embracing popularity he craved, obtained his first girlfriend, Susan (Kat Dennings) but is dangerously at odds with the school’s principal (Robert Downey Jr.) who is also Susan’s father.

The film targeted the most common areas of teen angst, alienation, loneliness, disenchantment and drug use. But the director added a nice comic touch and Anton Yelchin delivers one of his best performances. He performs every comic beat without sacrificing any of the seriousness of the issues.

Written and directed by Gustin Nash and Jon Poll, “Charlie Bartlett” is incisive and brilliantly entertaining. Downey Jr. proves yet again he is far and away the best actor of his generation, balancing the gravitas, humanity and wisdom in his role as a father-figure while becoming unhinged as the reluctant fall guy for a school on the verge of implosion.

Charlie Bartlett is much more than “Harold and Maude” meets “Rushmore” meets “Ferris Buellers Day Off”; its rewards are many.

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