Charlie Bartlett (2007)

Director:

Jon Poll

Writer (WGA):

Gustin Nash (written by)

Release Date:

22 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Popularity is a state of mind.

Plot:

A rich kid becomes the self-appointed psychiatrist to the student body of his new high school.

Plot Keywords:

High School | Psychiatrist | Private School | Prescription Drugs | Sexual Confusion

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Feb. 20

10:15 AM

SHOW

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Anton Yelchin	...	Charlie Bartlett
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Principal Nathan Gardner
Hope Davis	...	Marilyn Bartlett
Kat Dennings	...	Susan Gardner
Tyler Hilton	...	Murphy Bivens
Mark Rendall	...	Kip Crombwell
Dylan Taylor	...	Len Arbuckle
Megan Park	...	Whitney Drummond
Jake Epstein	...	Dustin Lauderbach
Jonathan Malen	...	Jordan Sunder
Derek McGrath	...	Superintendent Sedgwick
Stephen Young	...	Dr. Stan Weathers
Ishan Davé	...	Henry Freemont
David Brown	...	Officer Hansen
Eric Fink	...	Thomas

MPAA:

Rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:16 | USA:R (certificate #43261) | Singapore:NC-16 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Parkwood Estate, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The most memorable song in the film is Cat Stevens' "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out." This song was also used repeatedly in Harold and Maude (1971), another movie about a wealthy but troubled young man.

Goofs:

Continuity: The sign on the door for the boys restroom periodically changes from reading "BOYS RESTROOM" to "BOYS WASHROOM" because in Canada, where the film was shot, they use the word "washroom" instead of "restroom".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Charlie Bartlett: Thank You. Thank you very much. Thank you. How you all doing tonight. It's great to see all of you here. My name is Charlie Bartlett.

Movie Connections:

Features Killzone (2004) (VG)

Soundtrack:

New Clouds, Not Clouds

A superbly acted and highly absorbing comedy film

Charlie Bartlett is a comedy film about Charlie, a rich kid who drops out of a private high school and experiences culture shock after enrolling into a public school. After being an outcast for a few days, he gains popularity by setting up a dubious enterprise that distributes medical drugs around the school. At the same time, he discovers that he has an ability to counsel and give advice to other students. Their problems include substance abuse, depression, and identity crisis. It turns out that the adults also have problems of their own. Charlie soon learns that things are not as simple as he originally expected.

The acting is the best aspect of the film. Anton Yelchin fits perfectly as Charlie. He has the ideal attitude and personality for the role. The gestures and facial expressions are spot on. This makes for an extremely likable and charismatic main character. For most of the film, Principal Gardner serves as Charlie's opposition. Robert Downy Jr. does a terrific job as Gardner, conveying a wide range of emotions that makes you truly sympathize him. The rest of the cast (mostly other students in the school) are likable in their own ways. Despite their personal flaws, you can see a change in most (although not all) of them throughout the film.

The plot has some good ideas in it. It carries some great messages about our personal and social lives. I would have liked to see some of the plot lines carried further. For example, the story surrounding Charlie's father is very artificial and felt like it was tagged on simply to make Charlie look more imperfect. With a little imagination, a whole lot more could have been done with it. Also, it felt like the conclusion did not implement all the ideas together.

The dialog and writing was a mixed result. Generally, it was good and even excelled at some moments. But there were other parts that seemed too over the top or plain silly. Granted, it was walking a thin line between comedy and drama, but it could have felt more realistic.

I hope I don't sound too critical, because I enjoyed Charlie Bartlett and would definitely watch it again. The characters were good and the plot was interesting. It has more substance than the usual comedy. If IMDb's voting scales were more incremented, it would perfectly fit in as a 7.5/10. A good comedy to start the year off, don't hesitate to check it out.