DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Charlie Bartlett

By June L. Jun 30, 2008, 20:46 GMT

The kids at Western Summit High have "issues" and newcomer Charlie Bartlett is coming to their rescue. With a briefcase full of prescription pills and a head full of pop psychology this rebel with a cause brings hilarious help to the student body and unending grief to their neurotic principal Mr. Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.). Suddenly Charlie is the hottest man on campus and he\'s even caught the eye of ...more

“When Charlie listens, everyone talks.”

No matter what the story, popularity in high school is tantamount to success in every adolescent’s mind. And one’s status sticks with a person in the present and sometimes well into the future.

Either you are or were, or you’re not or weren’t popular. Sometimes maybe you were but you didn’t know it, or you were a small bit popular and it wasn’t enough. Whatever.

This is the story of Charlie Bartlett, wealthy child who is trying to establish popularity and friends at a new public high school, after being kicked out of numerous private institutions.

Charlie is not bad, but probably too clever for his own good, and completely normal. His life is out of his control, but he feels that he is responsible for himself and the happiness of his ditzy but kind mother Marilyn (Hope Davis.)

At first Charlie (Anton Yelchin) is a target for bullying by really bad boy Murphy Bivens, (Tyler Hilton) as he apparently wants to call attention to himself by dressing nicely and carrying an attaché case to class.

His first real friend is Len, who is a bit special, and his second is Susan Gardner (Kat Dennings) daughter of the good hearted by totally inept principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.) We soon see that Charlie doesn’t mean to be problematic, he is just following his instincts for what people need.

He takes on Murphy as a business partner, and with his own multiple councelors and psychiatrists as unknowing resources, he sets out to become shrink to his classmates. He has “office hours” in the boy’s bathroom, and dishes out advice and medications as needed.

As one would imagine, his popularity level zooms to the top of the heap. His advice is good, but the drugs are gonna get him caught.

This is not a typical high school movie. It is hard to classify in any particular genre, as it is very different in both storyline and resolutions. Charlie is not the usual misfit kid, nor is he acting out, or rebellious, or thwarting authority.

He appears to be cognizant of the problems on both sides of the school, student and administrative, and works for understanding between the two. For the most part, what he achieves is for the benefit of the students, but mishap with one student and drugs shows Charlie that he is not all knowing and can’t make people better all the time.

Charlie Bartlett is available on single disc, in widescreen format, with running time of about 97 minutes. Special features include a commentary with director Jon Poll and writer Gustin Nash.

There is a “production” from Charlie Bartlett films called Restroom Confessional that is pretty funny. The disc says if it is flipped, there are more special features on the other side. This was a screener disc, so there were no more special features.

There are funny bits in this movie, and some moments that are very touching, and all in all it is an interesting take on an age old problem. It would be fascinating to know what viewers that are the age of the characters think.

Is this a realistic portrayal, or it is total fantasy? What do you get from the story? Is Charlie right to do what he does, or would there be a better way?