Charlie Bartlett

Anton Yelchin (who is scheduled to play Pavel Chekov in the NOW DELAYED Star Trek 11, opening May 2009, instead of Christmas 2008, which means I’ll have to go to midnight mass instead of a midnight showing of Star Trek) stars as Charlie Bartlett – a smart guy who always finds trouble. His family is well off and well connected, but he has been kicked out of every private school around. Without any other options, Charlie is stuck going to public school, where he doesn’t fit in, until he starts counseling and providing medicinal help to the lost and troubled souls who just need someone to talk to.

Will Charlie get caught dispensing prescription drugs? Will anyone else help these kids?

Charlie Bartlett should have been a comedy all the way through instead of throwing in some melodrama at the end. Yelchin is very funny and charming as the guy who is a bit too smart for his own good and embraces the role of smart aleck rebel in classic fashion leaving us to laugh and cheer even if what he is doing is quite illegal. We enjoy watching him spar with the bullies, teachers, principal and more as he tries to navigate the shark infested waters of being a teenager and falling in love.

Unfortunately, Charlie Bartlett has a major tone problem as director Jon Poll allows the movie to get very serious when it doesn’t need to. We enjoy watching all of the factions at school start to come together and see Charlie stepping bravely into the romantic world with his first girlfriend, Susan (Kat Dennings), but the central battle between Charlie and Susan’s Dad, Principal Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.), becomes too much of a bummer. For most of Charlie Bartlett, the audience is laughing and having a good time, but the movie takes a turn towards the serious that is unwarranted. It’s like we have been enjoying a delicious ice cream sundae, only to find broccoli at the bottom of the bowl.

Charlie Bartlett is rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity.