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CHARLIE BARTLETT Send This Review to a Friend
Anton Yelchin has a showy role as Charlie Bartlett and he comes through with charm and talent. Charlie is a handful as a rich, problem high school student who, kicked out of a fancy prep school, is enrolled in a public school. Location doesn’t make a difference for Charlie, an operator wherever the opportunity exists. His pursuit becomes procuring and then selling prescription drugs to students. Need Ritalin? Talk to Charlie.
What’s more, given his new status, students come to him for advice, and he has his own little psychiatric business going. Have troubles? Talk to Charlie. Needless to say, this isn’t going to sit well with the principal, played by Robert Downey, Jr. But can he be a match for Charlie? To complicate matters, Charlie is brashly dating the principal’s daughter Susan, played by Kat Dennings.
Hope Davis portrays Charlie’s offbeat mom, and she also adds a touch of quality to the mostly amusing film. “Charlie Bartlett,” written by Gustin Nash and directed by Jon Poll, is a modestly enjoyable example of a better high school saga and a sharp portrait of a resourceful student likely to make his mark one way or another wherever he turns up in life. A Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment release.
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