Movie #44 - Charlie Bartlett
Charlie Bartlett is a story about a kid named Charlie that just wants to fit in with the kids around him. He goes to extremes - he gets kicked out of his private school for making and selling fake IDS. As soon as he enters public school for the first time, he wants to find a way for the other students to like him. He comes up with the idea of giving therapy to the students and then prescribing them medication. Charlie gets the medication by going to his family's therapist and pretending he has these varied symptoms. Eventually, he gets caught and it causes him to show up on the principal's radar. The principal also happens to be the father of the girl that Charlie is dating. Chaos breaks out between the students and the administration, and Charlie gets the consequences. Even though Charlie and Principal Gardner get their lives turned upside down, they end up finding the path they were meant to follow. It leaves them happy, finally.
I like this movie because it really shows the viewpoint of a teenager living in today's world. These kids have so many more problems to deal with nowadays than kids did even 10 years ago. Charlie tries to find a way to cope with his home issues, just like every other student at his school has to. That's why he feels like he is truly helping his peers, and they feel the need to seek guidance from someone willing to listen to them and help. There's one student, Kip, who ends up trying to commit suicide because no one pays attention to him, and he feels worthless. Charlie is the one to reach out to him, and it turns his life around. Kip writes the school play, and it is a huge success. I think that story line is fantastic. Sometimes all kids need is someone to listen to them - I mean REALLY listen to them. Adults, often times, are not the ones to do that listening because teens don't feel that they can relate to the situation...even though teens need to realize adults were their age once too! However, as I said earlier, kids today are dealing with way bigger issues than we did. The overall theme of the movie is acceptance. Finding what and who truly makes you happy and not caring what anyone else thinks. You are the maker of your happiness. Why should you let someone else define YOUR life? Too many teens today think that they have to be popular, and they are willing to do anything to get that popularity. That's what I love about this story. Charlie says several times that that's why he is doing these crazy things- he just wants to be popular. Everyone keeps telling him that there are more important things than being popular, but the only person who can actually tell Charlie WHAT is more important is Principal Gardner. He tells Charlie that it's not just the popularity; it's what you choose to do with that popularity. If more teens that were in the popular crowd realized how many other teens look up to them, it would probably shock them. What they need to do once they realize this is to figure out something good to do to influence the mass of people that are following them. Could you imagine how much our society would turn around for the better if the popular teens, adults, politicians, teachers, etc. used their popularity for good instead of evil? Steer the people in the right direction. That is what Charlie tries to do at the end of the film, and it's truly inspirational.
Overall, I really like this film. Robert Downey, Jr. is fantastic as always, and Anton Yelchin follows right behind him as being equally fabulous. Anton kind of reminds me of a young Neil Patrick Harris. He has comedic timing and his characterization is completely believable. If the audience doesn't connect to your character, then they're going to hate the film. Robert Downey, Jr. and Anton Yelchin make the story and their characters completely believable.
The only criticism I have for the film, which is why I'm scoring it lower, is that it runs a little slow at times. There are really brilliant scenes and then it drags on. With a character as witty as Charlie is, the pace of the movie should've matched his quickness.
I give Charlie Bartlett 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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