[Movie Review] CHARLIE BARTLETT
What did Ferris Bueller do when he wasn’t ditching school?
That is the question that kept running through my head while watching Charlie Bartlett, because this film is a close sibling to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, one of my personal favorite comedies. There are a lot of similarities between the two films(kid rules the school while attracting the ire of the principal), but I’d be hesitant about calling this a straight-up comedy. It took two viewings for me to start laughing at what was happening in this flick. There’s some good stuff here, but man, there is some BAD stuff as well.
The story revolves around the title character(Anton Yelchin), a rich kid with a spaced-out mom and an insatiable desire to be popular. After getting kicked out of his latest private school, he gets shipped to public school, where he quickly becomes the alpha male by dolling out prescription meds to kids and acting as school psychiatrist, setting up shop in the boys’ bathroom. Naturally, this activity puts him in the cross-hairs of Principal Gardner(Robert Downey, Jr), who is none too pleased that this kid is also seeing his daughter Susan(Kat Dennings). Now, a film like this lives or dies on the lead. If your lead character is supposed to be so magnetic, so charismatic that an entire school would bow to his will, you better cast someone who can pull that off. As fantastical as the world of Ferris Bueller is, I can buy that he’s so beloved because Broderick infused the guy with so much mojo that you couldn’t help but be on his team. Anton Yelchin is NO Matthew Broderick. He’s not charismatic, he’s not magnetic. Truth be told, there’s nothing overly special about this guy. If I went to school with him, I’d ignore the guy as he walked down the hall. He doesn’t have that thing that would make me believe his meteoric rise to the top. He’s got a few good lines here or there, but his delivery is so monotone and devoid of any mischief or fun that he neuters the character of Charlie. There’s no clever glint in this kid’s eye. There is no way that I could ever believe that the entire school would come to this kid to solve their problems. He’s just…THERE. I’m positive that any other young actor could have stepped into this role and made something truly special out of it. As much crap as some people are giving The Beef these days, I could see him taking this role and running friggin’ LAPS around Yelchin. There’s points where Charlie says a line that could be a howler if it was coming out of The Beef’s mouth. Late in the film, Charlie has a highly emotionally-charged moment, and Yelchin’s lack of range destroyed the moment for me. It’s a shame because if they’d gotten a stronger lead, I would have enjoyed this film a lot more than I did.
That being said, Robert Downey, Jr. does a STELLAR job in this movie. If you’re pumped for Iron Man, you need to see him in this movie prior to seeing Iron Man. It is the PERFECT lead-in to seeing him playing Tony Stark. His Principal Gardner is one of the most well-rounded principals I’ve ever seen in a teen movie like this. Rather than being reduced to over-the-top slapstick comedy, you get to see that this guy is truly struggling with the demands of the job and raising a teenage girl by himself. This film’s tone is all over the damn place, but when it finally settles into a power struggle between Charlie and Garner, the film friggin’ shines, and Downey brings his A-game. There are some truly great scenes with him, particularly one near the very end involving a pool. It’s also worth pointing out that it was incredibly uncomfortable to see Downey portraying an addict in this film, in light of his own real-life struggles. He goes to a pretty dark place during the aforementioned pool scene, and I was squirming in my seat as I watched him. I’m sure the filmmakers wanted me to squirm. He is the main reason to see this film, and after watching what he does here, I cannot wait for Iron Man.
It’s funny that everyone in this film is pretty good, save for the lead, which really drags the film down. Kat Dennings doesn’t have much to do as Susan besides act as a catalyst for the antagonism between her dad and Charlie, but she does a good job. Her singing voice isn’t all that hot, but it’s forgivable. Tyler Hilton(no relation to Paris, lucky guy) does a GREAT job playing Murphy, a bully who turns into Charlie’s best friend and business partner. He’s a great talent, and I hope to see more from this guy in the future. His story arc got the biggest reaction from the crowd, and as I walked out of the theater, more people were talking about him than about Charlie. Hope Davis is a riot as Charlie’s spaced-out mother. She is just completely clueless about how to raise her son, and it makes for some funny moments in the film.
I have to say once again that the tone of this film is all over the place. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a dark comedy, a drama, a light teen romp, or what. One moment, I’m laughing, the next, I’m supposed to be sad and bummed as life lessons get dolled out. I’m not sure how they’re marketing this since I have not seen one commercial on TV for this, but buyer beware: this is not a comedy like Superbad, so beware how they try to sell this to you.
The movie is not a waste of time. I had some fun with it at times, and Downey is absolutely great in it, but man, Yelchin just doesn’t make the cut. See it for Downey, but don’t expect much more than a fine performance from him.
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