2008 Woodie Awards
'Charlie Bartlett' not so-good medicine
Doug Graham
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: After Hours
Few things are harder in life than reviewing a movie you don't much care about. Such is the case with "Charlie Bartlett," a wannabe edgy indie comedy that comes across as a lesser John Hughes effort with some f-bombs thrown in for R-rated credibility.
Maybe I'm just in a cynical mood. "Bartlett" is a perfectly watchable flick, and parts of it are even good. For one, Anton Yelchin is a hoot as the titular rich kid who finds high school popularity by peddling psychiatric drugs like Ritalin to his classmates, and even greater popularity by counseling kids in his makeshift bathroom stall office.
Robert Downey Jr. is also superb as a high school principal with issues of his own - he's a burnt out alcoholic who can't seem to control his high school populace. By now it's firmly established that Downey is the leading actor when it comes to alcoholics, drug addicts and burnouts - wouldn't it be nice to see him playing a perfectly normal guy? Anyway, he's fun to watch and brings some degree of depth to his character.
But the problem with the film is that it simply isn't very funny. It's the type of movie you watch once, often grinning and perhaps chortling, but don't think about twice after you're done watching it.
It's like my hero Joe Bob Briggs said when he showed "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" on TNT's MonsterVision: This is a comedy, right? It's a pleasant enough movie, but where are the jokes? Screenwriter Gustin Nash evidently thought the concept of the movie was funny enough by itself.
Another problem is tone. The movie has a bizarrely chipper feel, like it's a well-acted Disney Channel movie with foul language and drug humor tossed in at random. I think director Jon Poll might have been aiming for a "Sixteen Candles" vibe, but he lacks the control of tone of someone like John Hughes.
There are things to like in "Charlie Bartlett," but not enough to warrant a watch in the theater. You might as well go rent "Rushmore" again instead.
Maybe I'm just in a cynical mood. "Bartlett" is a perfectly watchable flick, and parts of it are even good. For one, Anton Yelchin is a hoot as the titular rich kid who finds high school popularity by peddling psychiatric drugs like Ritalin to his classmates, and even greater popularity by counseling kids in his makeshift bathroom stall office.
Robert Downey Jr. is also superb as a high school principal with issues of his own - he's a burnt out alcoholic who can't seem to control his high school populace. By now it's firmly established that Downey is the leading actor when it comes to alcoholics, drug addicts and burnouts - wouldn't it be nice to see him playing a perfectly normal guy? Anyway, he's fun to watch and brings some degree of depth to his character.
But the problem with the film is that it simply isn't very funny. It's the type of movie you watch once, often grinning and perhaps chortling, but don't think about twice after you're done watching it.
It's like my hero Joe Bob Briggs said when he showed "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" on TNT's MonsterVision: This is a comedy, right? It's a pleasant enough movie, but where are the jokes? Screenwriter Gustin Nash evidently thought the concept of the movie was funny enough by itself.
Another problem is tone. The movie has a bizarrely chipper feel, like it's a well-acted Disney Channel movie with foul language and drug humor tossed in at random. I think director Jon Poll might have been aiming for a "Sixteen Candles" vibe, but he lacks the control of tone of someone like John Hughes.
There are things to like in "Charlie Bartlett," but not enough to warrant a watch in the theater. You might as well go rent "Rushmore" again instead.
Be the first to comment on this story