By Ryan Pike
Life has very few constants. One is death, another is taxes. One more recently discovered constant is that Hollywood will always find ways to both romanticize and demonize the high school experience. Their latest attempt is Charlie Bartlett.
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is a wealthy miscreant, fresh from being kicked out of yet another fancy private school for a wacky stunt aimed at garnering popularity. With no other alternative, Charlie’s mother (Hope Davis) enrolls him in public school, where he’s promptly beaten to a bloody pulp by the resident goonish bully (Tyler Hilton). When he comes home from school bummed-out by this, Charlie’s mother summons the family’s on-call shrink and Charlie comes up with an idea. With all the misery in high school, why doesn’t he provide psychoanalysis and prescription drugs to students? Out of this idea and necessity, a partnership between Charlie and his tormentor is born.
The first directing credit for longtime film editor Jon Poll, Charlie Bartlett looks and feels like the pill-popping lovechild of 1990’s Pump Up the Volume and Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, updating the old with the attitude of the new. In fact, Bartlett’s plot outline is roughly the same as Volume’s: smart teen comes to new school, marvels at misery, attempts to change things (Christian Slater had a pirate radio show, Anton Yelchin distributes drugs), falls in love and conflict ensues. The film’s lack of originality can be forgiven in light of its unabashed style and sense of fun. Despite featuring a cabal of miserable and ornery people, Bartlett is full of jokes and clever dialogue.
Of course, all the cleverness in the world would be lost without a capable cast. In his biggest role to date, Anton Yelchin shines as the title character. His chemistry with the rest of the actors is what saves the film when the script drifts off-course. Hope Davis is adorably clueless as Charlie’s mother. A mohawked Tyler Hilton steals scenes as the bully who becomes Charlie’s business partner. Kat Dennings, best known to most as Catherine Keener’s daughter in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, takes the under-developed role as Charlie’s love interest and injects it with energy. The real star of the show, however, is Robert Downey Jr., playing the principal of Charlie’s new school and the father of his love interest. The film’s centrepiece scene features Downey drunkenly waving a gun around while engaging in a surprisingly articulate argument with Charlie.
The strangest thing about Charlie Bartlett–and ultimately its failing–is it’s a film plagued by contradictions. Despite the clever concept and smart script by Gustin Nash, there are times where the film ventures into teen movie cliche territory or when the story leaps from the logical point A to point C without warning. Even so, there are times where the film seems really, really smart. The entire prescription drug scheme is particularly well-developed. Bolstered by a strong cast and clever concept, Charlie Bartlett is largely an enjoyable piece of filmmaking, but could have been even better had the script been more consistent.
Charlie Bartlett is in theatres right now.