Charlie Bartlett DVD Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 07.03.2008

A teen comedy that truly comes of age

Directed by: Jon Poll
Written by: Gustin Nash

Starring:
Anton Yelchin - Charles "Charlie" Bartlett
Robert Downey Jr. - Principal Nathan Gardner
Hope Davis - Marilyn Bartlett
Kat Dennings - Susan Gardner
Tyler Hilton - Murphey Bivens
Mark Rendall - Kip Crombwell
Dylan Taylor - Len Arbuckle
Megan Park - Whitney Lauderbach
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
Lauren Collins - Kelly
Aubrey Graham - A/V Jones

Domestic Gross: $3,950,984
Worldwide Gross: $4,730,024

DVD Release Date: 6/24/2008
Running Time: 97 minutes



Rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity

The teen comedy is a cyclical business, as might be expected. The genre has largely risen and fallen as its projected audience grows up and Hollywood is forced to adapt in order to connect with the new generation. It started out with the beach party movies of the 1960’s, with Sandra Dee’s Gidget and the Frankie and Annette surfing films like Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo. Largely viewed as teen fluff at the time, it would gain some more legitimacy in the 1980’s, when the ineffable John Hughes created the iconic teen comedies. Films such as Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club played to young adult crowds, achieving iconic success and creating such strong images that they’re largely considered classics today. Unfortunately, when Hughes moved on from the genre, it largely died out. Not until 1995 saw Alicia Silverstone’s Clueless did they start to make a comeback. The Silverstone comedy, a loose contemporary remake of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, was commercially and critically successful enough to revive interest in making these sorts of films. It was followed by 1998’s Can’t Hardly Wait and, of course, the wildly successful American Pie series. But when that series began to degenerate into direct-to-DVD hell as its cast and filmmakers moved on, the genre again started to die. 2003’s American Wedding was the last major teen comedy to do very well, until last year. Suddenly, Superbad and Juno became huge, unexpected hits, indicating a possible early return of the genre. On their heels, gaining little attention when it was released in February of this year, was a little film called Charlie Bartlett. Starring Anton Yelchin and a pre-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr., it had a brief run in theaters before moving on, now, to DVD.

The Movie

The film opens with a scene that seems right out of a music biopic. A packed crowd of teenagers sits in a large auditorium, chanting “Charlie! Charlie!” in unison. Meanwhile, just off-stage, seventeen-year-old Charlie (Yelchin) prepares to go on. He buttons up his dress shirt, laces on his Chuck Taylor high tops, and comes out onto the stage. He has the adulation of the crowd, who go wild when he introduces himself…and then we snap right out of his daydream. As it turns out, he’s actually not a rock star, but a student at a private school, where he’s being expelled for making and selling fake licenses. His wealthy, single mother Marilyn (Davis) tries to buy off the dean, to no avail. Charlie goes home with her, to attend public school. Meanwhile, Nathan Gardner (Downey)—the principal of his school-to-be—is struggling with finding a balance in his life. His daughter Susan (Dennings) attends his school, and calls him the Principal to her friends because it “gives her cred.” He has issues of his own, wanting desperately to be liked, and thus has the respect of neither his students nor Susan, who treats him more like a friend then a father.

Attending public school in his private school blazer—with the insignia still attached no less—and carrying his attaché case with him, Charlie is immediately unpopular, and becomes the target of the school bully Murphey (Hilton). In an effort to get Murphey off his back, Charlie enters into a business arrangement with him to see the Ritalin prescribed by his psychiatrist (Young) to the school. Eventually, Charlie becomes the de facto prescription drug dealer of the school, getting the prescriptions from his shrink by describing symptoms faced by the kids and providing counseling for them in the bathroom stalls. He also meets and falls for Susan, complicating the relationship between both youths and her father, who is coming into opposition with Charlie’s activities.

Charlie Bartlett covers some remarkably dark ground. Prescription drug abuse, depression, suicide, broken homes, peer pressure, sex, alcoholism, psychological issue and more abound in the characters. The main character is a rich teenager who sells prescription drugs illegally to his schoolmates and dispenses psychological advice without any sort of degree. Nearly every character in the film has some sort of dark shade about them. Yet, somehow, the writer/director team of Gustin Nash and John Poll are able to keep this a decently even comedy without trivializing any of these deeper issues. A lot of it has to do with the sharply laid-out story which, while it shares some familiar themes with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and other similar films, is contemporary and updated enough to seem very new, and wisely avoids lifting anything directly from that film. Nash and Poll do have problems transitioning from the lighter moments into the darker ones, particularly later in the film, and things sometime seem uneven. Somehow, they manage to pull it back on course.

They do have considerable help doing so; namely, the outstanding cast they’ve lined up. Anton Yelchin, last seen as the doomed victim in Alpha Dog, has an undeniable charisma. He brings a fresh-faced perspective to the role of Charlie, making him both manipulative and sincere, naïve yet jaded. It’s a very tricky role to pull off, but Yelchin tackles it with complete gusto, and much like the movie itself, he draws from the spirit of Ferris Bueller to make an indelible character. Charlie is someone who’s desperately alone, and wants to find a connection with someone; Yelchin makes us see that with amazing skill. The actors opposite him are equally good as well. Robert Downey Jr., who really is one of the finest actors of his generation, embodies Nathan with many of the same qualities as Charlie. These two could have been on the same side of the fence, if they had been of the same age. Watching Downey square off with Yelchin is a joy to behold. Likewise, Kat Dennings shows some great chemistry with Yelchin and it makes the relationship between Susan and Charlie seem very real and sincere. Also of note is Hope Davis, a talented and underrated actress who makes Marilyn a very sympathetic mess of a character.

What’s perhaps best about Charlie Bartlett is that, unlike past teen comedies good and bad, it doesn’t feel like a teen comedy. It undeniably is, and incorporates all the standard teen coming-of-age twists. But it has a maturity that, much like its title character, is yearning to break free and be recognized. While it’s certainly not a film without its flaws, Poll has created a teen comedy that can be enjoyed without having to have a sense of nostalgia for the prom.


Film Rating: 7.0

The Video

Unfortunately, the video transfer is not quite as solid as the movie itself. It’s not horribly flawed, and perfectly serviceable on a lesser television, but on higher-quality televisions, the 1.85:1 widescreen transfer shows some few flaws in the compression. The DVD is a flipper disc, with a 1.33:1 fullscreen transfer that is marginally better at preserving image quality. One wishes that MGM would have spent a little extra effort to improve the video quality, but seeing how this is not a special effects-laden movie or a major studio hit, it was probably too much to ask for.

Video Rating: 5.5

The Audio

The audio track, a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, holds up much better then the video. Voice is leveled very nicely with the remarkably pleasant Christophe Beck score, and nothing is overbearing or underwhelming. There is a Spanish Dolby 2.0 track as well, and English and Spanish subtitle options. All in all, nothing to complain about here at all, other then to wish by comparison that they had as well with the visuals.

Audio Rating: 7.5

Special Features

Commentary track with Director John Poll and actors Anton Yelchin and Kat Dennings: This commentary track is a very easy one to listen to. Light-hearted and good-humored, the three have a lot of fun discussing the movie and the various aspects of making it, and scenes involved.

Commentary tack with Director John Poll and Writer Gustin Nash: Located on the full-screen side, Poll and Nash also have some fun talking about the movie, albeit from a different aspect. As might be expected, they discuss a lot more of the technical details of the film, including the script. The other is easier to listen to, but this one is more informative.

Spinal Beach “Voodoo” Music Video: (3:00) This is pretty much what it says it is; a music video for the song, featuring multiple scene cuts from the film and Spinal Beach performing. It isn’t exactly my style of music, but for what it is, it’s good.

Restroom Confessional: (3:31) A superfluous but enjoyable short on the fullscreen side, this is several of the actors, in character, riffing with several humorous problems to discuss with Charlie in the bathroom. It’s essentially a gag reel of sorts, and the best parts come from Tyler Hilton, making Murphey a haiku-writing sensitive new-age guy.

Features Rating: 5.5

The 411: Strengthened by some top-notch performances from Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey Jr., and the rest of the cast, Charlie Bartlett manages to entertain perfectly well. With a script that, while uneven at times, addresses tough issues in a decent way, and good direction from Jon Poll, the movie falters sometimes, but never fails. Only an iffy video transfer and lackluster special features prevents this from getting a higher recommendation; as it is, it's worth the rental.

Final Score:  6.8   [ Average ]