SNMR 6.22: "Charlie Bartlett"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Charlie Bartlett" (2007, R, 97 minutes), starring Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr., Hope Davis, Kat Dennings and Tyler Hilton. The film was directed by Jon Poll.

PLOT SUMMARY: Charlie Bartlett (Yelchin) is a seventeen year old rich kid who has been thrown out of many private schools. His mother (Davis) decides he should try a public high school for a change. When he does, he's not popular and virtually unknown. After being beat up by the school bully, Charlie reads up on psychological behavior and begins to give advice to other students and prescribe medications to them that he gets prescribed to him by his family's on call shrink. Suddenly Charlie is the most popular kid in school and attracts the eye of Susan Gardner (Dennings) who happens to be the daughter of the most hated man in school - Principal Nathan Gardner (Downey, Jr.).

MY OPINION: I had seen the previews for this movie on several recent DVD's I've watched. The movie looked interesting but nothing I'd go out of my way to get. Then when I realized that the title character is played by Anton Yelchin, who also happens to be Checkov in the new Star Trek movie and a young Kyle Reese in the new Terminator movie, that ratcheted up my interest in this movie considerably.

This movie has been compared to Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the student - principal relationship that each film has. But that's as far as I'll go with the comparison. Ferris Bueller was the ultimate 80's high school slacker film and still a classic. This movie takes a more serious turn towards the second half of the film. Hope Davis makes for an excellent ditzy but well intentioned mother and Robert Downey, Jr. is very good as the beleagured principal who gets tired of hearing the name Charlie Bartlett. Yelchin and Dennings performances are so-so.

Jon Poll has an impressive history as a comedy director, having helmed the last two Austin Powers movies and the two Ben Stiller films Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. He does a good enough job with this movie but doesn't show us anything we haven't seen before.

This movie is decent for a rental, but I wouldn't go out of my way to own it.

*** out of *****