Charlie Bartlett Review
Not Another Teen Movie: Starring Anton Yelchin
While watching this movie, after some laughs one may think that it is about to take a turn for the tedious, or that surely it has exhausted its share of the off-beat and the school mascot will be abused soon enough. The moment of cliché never arrives. Charlie Bartlett, title character played by Anton Yelchin, is an original.
Based around a character who has enough ambition for three people and an itch for infamy, the plot is simply bursting with surprises. This does create a somewhat uneven storytelling, but not to the point of distraction.
Humor in All the Right Places
Yes, it’s funny. Relying on situational scrapes and some highly quirky characters, this movie delivers the laughs in spades. A strong cast of comic actors helps, with even the smaller characters bringing it all to the table. Tyler Hilton and Dylan Taylor, respectively playing the obligatory parts of troubles-at-home bully and less-than-brilliant giant, are absolutely hilarious.
Yet the funniest bit in the movie arguably belongs to Anton Yelchin (as Charlie) when, auditioning for a role in a Shakespeare play, he does a monologue as a girl who is starting her period for the first time. He is unreserved, creative, and laugh-out-loud, choke-on-the-popcorn funny.
Hope Davis Shines
As one of the few familiar faces here, Hope Davis can be expected to stand out with her usual style and ability to pull off basically anything with a laugh. However, she outdoes herself as Marilyn Bartlett, Charlie’s wealthy, somewhat unstable mother who clearly has no idea what she’s doing. Perhaps her best moment comes when she is bailing Charlie out of jail and tells him, with a no-nonsense tone, that he’s grounded… for thirty hours instead of twenty-four.
This Is Not Rushmore
It’s a little confusing how this movie managed to gain comparisons to Rushmore. True, it’s about a standout, brilliant kid in high school who manages to gain a lot of attention through various means. However, the comedy is coming from a completely different angle: Charlie is not nearly as deadpan as Max Fischer. Also, Charlie is a completely likeable, wide-eyed sort of troublemaker who is always shocked at the thought of causing anyone harm. There is none of Rushmore’s love drama or manipulation going on here. Essentially, Charlie is all about helping people along, and being well-liked in the process. His only problem comes in figuring out what to do with his popularity. Max Fischer is an entirely different piece of work, and never has the same good-kid feel that Charlie does.
Overall, for a movie from several unfamiliar names and faces (even writer Gustin Nash and director Jon Poll are relatively unknown) it was wonderfully surprising and definitely worth a watch.
