Jon Poll, Charlie Bartlett

Photo Credit: MGM

by Kathryn Durfee
02/26/2008

If I believed everything I saw in the movies, my high school experience could have been a hell of a lot more interesting. In December, little Juno MacGuff of Juno taught us that teen pregnancy is okay as long as it's put to a hip soundtrack. And now, Charlie Bartlett of Charlie Bartlett shows how peddling drugs to your high school buddies is cool if you pair the prescription with advice.

After being kicked out of the last private school around, Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) moves back home to attend public school. His dad is in prison, so it's just Charlie and his self-medicating mom Marilyn (Hope Davis). Whereas he was a troublemaker at his previous school, he's simply getting beaten up at Western Summit High. Failing miserably at gaining popularity (it doesn't help that he wears a sports jacket and carries an attache case), he studies the social hierarchy and discovers what the school needs. Through his eager charm and desire to help, Charlie becomes a sort of psychiatrist for the student body. Teaming up with bully Murhpy Bivens (Tyler Hilton), Charlie doles out advice and pills collected from the psychiatrist his mother keeps on call. Along the way to popularity, Charlie falls in love with Susan (Kat Dennings), the daughter of the school's world-weary principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.). It is with the help of these two characters that Charlie begins to figure out who he is and where he belongs. After all, isn't that what high school is all about?

Looking at the synopsis for Charlie Bartlett, it seems as though it could be an old John Hughes movie. Bartlett sets itself apart from films like Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink by portraying an oddly optimistic high school student body that is capable of being united. Here, not only does the geeky guy get the girl, but he brings everyone from the jocks to the special education kids together in a happily ever after ending.

Unfortunately, what could have become a dark comedy bursting with wit and cynicism ultimately plays out like an after-school special. Charlie Bartlett touches on a lot of serious issues like suicide, addiction, and dysfunctional families, but never quite dives in. One student almost dies from overdosing on the pills that Charlie gave him, but since Principal Gardner doesn't have enough evidence to pin it to Charlie, all Charlie gets is a stern talking to and a recommendation to "do the right thing."

During the scenes in which Charlie is handing out advice from bathroom stalls, it's hard to take him seriously. Charlie is eager to be liked and honestly seems like he wants to help, but it's difficult to look past the naive rich kid wanting to be popular. Anton Yelchin plays Charlie to be the kid you want to hate but can't. His enthusiasm reminded me of the Charlie Bartlett of my high school: a briefcase-carrying, libertarian nut job that was always trying to tell me his latest theories on how the government should be run. Yelchin's acting seems stilted, as if he's wearing a back brace and talking through a forced smile, but he exudes a peculiar quality in awkward moments, such as when he breaks into song at the piano or puts on an accent, that makes him inexplicably likable. His performance is a little bit cheesy, but this can be forgiven since the entire film carries a tongue-in-cheek tone.

Though Yelchin portrays the film's titular character, it is Robert Downey Jr's Principal Gardner that steals the show. His melancholy and despondent Gardner loves his daughter, is losing control of his job, and sinking further into madness and alcoholism. Downey Jr., who possesses a great unpredictability and slight madness, gives Gardner an air of cynicism and insanity that appears to be necessary to cope with running a public high school. He is hapless and the student body hates him, but this does not discourage him enough to not want to help Charlie realize that he's "just a kid." As Charlie sees it, Gardner needs him to help him control the school. But from Gardner's point of view, Charlie is a kid that was forced to grow up too fast and now is in need of control himself. In one of the final scenes, Gardner offers Charlie advice that turns out to be the funniest line of the film: "Never, never attack a drunk guy with a gun."

When I went to see Charlie Bartlett in Atlanta, I was the only person in the auditorium. This was great for me, but it doesn't bode well for the film's reception by audiences. Charlie Bartlett was entertaining, but not something I'll watch again. With its failure to see the dark comedic potential of the subjects it touches on but doesn't explore, the film falls short of what is needed to become a cult classic like Rushmore or The Breakfast Club.