Reel Time: Charlie Bartlett

Director: Jon Poll

Writer: Gustin Nash
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis, Kat Dennings, Tyler Hilton

Summary:

The movie Charlie Bartlett follows a rich kid (Yelchin) as he starts his first year of  public high school. Charlie has been enrolled in many private school, but gets kicked out do to his business schemes, like selling fake IDs. So when his spaced out, typical movie rich mother (Davis), Charlie is not used to all the torment he gets. So, in order to become popular, Charlie takes it upon himself to solve the problems of his classmates. With the help of his surprising new friend, tough guy Murphey (Hitlon), Charlie sets up therapy sessions in the boys bathroom and gets medication from his therapist to give out to all the kids. Charlie gains instant popularity and even a girlfriend (Dennings). But when the principal, and the father of his girlfriend, (Downey Jr.) finds out about his business ventures, all goes wrong for Charlie and this causes craziness in his school.

Review:

The movie Charlie Bartlett was definitely not what I expected it to be. The movie's star Anton Yelchin made this film extremely funny. His performance reminded me of Matthew Broderick in one of my favorite comedys, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I have to say, this was ten times worse. Even thought the movie was incredibly funny, it had no substance to it and the ending was completely predictable. This movie is not one of the high school films that you will remember for years to come, but I enjoyed it. It had its moments where you think it is absolutely hilarious, and other times where you thought "Why even bother putting that in a movie?". I'd give this a very low rating if it wasn't for the wonderful acting displayed by Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis, and Robert Downey Jr. Overall, Ill give this a 5.5/10

--D.