Charlie Bartlett (2007)

Réalisateur:

Jon Poll

Scénariste (WGA):

Gustin Nash (written by)

Release Date:

22 février 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedie | Drame

Accroche:

Popularity is a state of mind.

Plot:

A rich kid becomes the self-appointed psychiatrist to the student body of his new high school.

Plot Keywords:

Psychiatrist | Fake Doctor | Sexual Confusion | Ritalin | Divorced

Avis des utilisateurs:

Ritalin and comedy mix well

Ensemble

Anton Yelchin	...	Charlie Bartlett
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Principal Gardner
Hope Davis	...	Marilyn Bartlett
Kat Dennings	...	Susan Gardner
Tyler Hilton	...	Murphey Bivens
Mark Rendall	...	Kip Crombwell
Dylan Taylor	...	Len Arbuckle
Megan Park	...	Whitney Drummond
Jake Epstein	...	Dustin Lauderbach
Jonathan Malen	...	Jordan Sunder
Derek McGrath	...	Superintendent Sedgwick
Stephen Young	...	Dr. Stan Weathers
Ishan Davé	...	Henry Freemont
David Brown	...	Officer Hansen
Eric Fink	...	Thomas

MPAA:

Rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity.

Durée:

97 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Son:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Classification:

Netherlands:12 | USA:R (certificate #43261) | Ireland:16 | Singapore:NC-16

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Parkwood Estate, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Anecdotes:

In the last scene the psychiatrists name is P. Sarossy, same as the cinematographer of this movie, Paul Sarossy.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Charlie passes the note to Susan, at one camera angle Susan has a cell phone on her desk, but in the next angle it isn't there, but when it goes back to the first angle, the phone reappears.

Guillemet:

Murphey Bivens: I'll see you in the sequel, bitch!

Connexions De Film:

References Harold and Maude (1971)

Soundtrack:

Day OK

Ritalin and comedy mix well

'Charlie Bartlett' follows 17 year old rich boy loner, Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yechlin). He doesn't have any friends and gets kicked out of numerous private schools. He is addicted to trouble and challenging authority. The main point behind that is that his father was arrested for tax evasion, sending his mother into a manically depressed state. Charlie was then forced to take care for his mother thus having no one to look after himself, he was an adult before he even became a teenager. You later find out that he hates his father for this, stealing his childhood.

Charlie is kicked out of his last private school, the reason this time is for making fake ID's, he is then sent to a public school. Right when he arrives, you see the typical clicks in an all too fake montage, the pot heads, skaters, jocks and outcasts. He is greeted by no one, except a mentally unstable mongoloid named, Len Arbuckle. He becomes friends with Len and people start to notice that Charlie is not like them. You are then exposed to other characters, Principal Gardnes (Robert Downey Jr.), his daughter Susan (Kat Dennings) and the school bully Murphy Bivens (Tyler Hilton). Charlie runs with an unusual crowd, that is for sure.

Next in the story is a loner named Kip Crombwell (Mark Rendall) who asks Charlie if he can get him prescription drugs after a fiasco involving a school dance and Ritalin. Charlie of course agrees, all he really cares about is becoming popular and fitting in for once. The word then gets out about this little drug cartel Charlie has in his power. He and Murphy start to to get medication for all the kids at the school. Charlie runs a little psychiatrist office out of one of the boys' bathrooms. He asks the kids their problems, then recites them to his own psychiatrist thus getting the drugs.

The story is good, it lacks certain qualities that just don't seem believable, but then again this is a high school comedy, those traits aren't required. Anton Yechlin is great as Charlie Bartlett, it shows that this young kid has potential. I envisioned the film to be this dark teen comedy, but it turned into a quirky film about the high school body and drug abuse. The two surprisingly worked damn well together.

Hope Davis plays Charlie's neurotic mother. Her performance is the best in the film. She is so estranged from reality by her own medication that she seems like Charlie's daughter. She plays with the same quirkiness Kim Darby did as John Cusack's mother in the film 'Better Off Dead...'. The other adult in the film is Robert Downey Jr. He plays an alcoholic school principal. He also is a fan of boats. Look for some great scenes with him and Yechlin in the end of the movie.

All in all this a great representation of what high school is like for certain kids in their certain clicks, it tackles these topics with witty dialog and humor. For the most part it works, but sometimes in the few serious scenes, the shouldn't have flipped the humor switch back on so fast.

See this movie Friday, it's the first great movie of the year.

MY RATING: 8.0/10.0