Charlie Bartlett - DVD Cover
STARS: ANTON YELCHIN, HOPE DAVIS, KAT DENNINGS, AND ROBERT DOWNEY JR.
DIRECTED BY: JON POLL
RELEASED: 2007
RUN TIME: 97 min
RATED: R
<NO SPOILERS>
(Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, meets The Breakfast club) Very cool story of High School popularity and the toll it takes. Finding your purpose in life takes a back seat when your first priority is making friends and influencing teenagers.
Charlie Barlett (Yelchin), is rich kid in search of his purpose in life. He’s 17 but mentally 35, and just wants to be popular. Having just been kicked out of private school for making his friends fake ID’s, his last chance to graduate is Western Summit High, (public school). He quickly meets Susan Gardner (Dennings) and decides to audition for the drama club. Unfortunately having been sheltered from hazards of public school he also quickly meets the school bully, and gets his ass kicked. His neurotic heavily medicated mother (Davis), quickly sends him to the doctor, the family psychiatrist that is. After getting high off Ritalin, Charlie quickly finds a way to make a deal with the school bully as they become business partners. Together they open up a faux psychiatric clinic in the boys room. After councilling his fellow students he quickly realises that Ritalin isn’t only the drug he’s going to need. After doing his homework on basic psychotic drug usage, he con’s his various shrinks into prescribing him Zoloft, Xanax, Adderol, and Prozac. Seemingly oblivious to all this is Principal Gardner (Downey Jr.), Susan’s dad.
Everything comes crashing down on Charlie when one of the students has an overdose, and Principal Gardner finds out that he’s behind it all. It gets even worse for Charlie when the Principal finds out he’s dating his daughter !!!
Funny film, with a pretty clever story and a great soundtrack! Yelchin shows off the fact that he can carry a film, and of course Downey Jr, is always fun to watch. Kat Dennings also pulls off a great performance and I’m sure she’s going to have a great future. Not a slapstick drug comedy, this film actually has a couple of really good messages for todays youth. However studying and getting your homework done before bedtime are not part of the curriculum…
The dvd contains 2 commentaries with Director Jon Poll, & writer Gustin Nash and Director Jon Poll, & actors Anton Yelchin, and Kat Dennings. A restroom confessional featurette and the music video “Voodoo” by Spiral Beach.
“No teenagers were harmed in the making of this motion picture”