As everyone knows; you can't truly be cool if you look like you're trying. And the truth is that Charlie Bartlett tries alot. He's been thrown out of every private school in the region for trying to fit in and make everyone like him - usually by coming up with crazy entrepreneurial schemes, like selling fake ID's. But like Charlie says "I'm 17 and popularity is pretty darned important to me".
Things don't start off well for his first day of public school when Charlie (Anton Yelchin) turns up wearing a blazer embellished with a latin transcript, a tie and carries an 'attache case'. It's obvious from this point that despite his friendly nature he'll be beaten up by a stereotypical bully who he'll then befriend later on in the film and find out he's a caring and nice guy who just had problems - it's typical. Luckily though he had instant chemistry with Susan (Kat Dennings), a rebellious 'emo' girl in the drama club who also happens to be the daughter of the schools Principal (Robert Downey Jr).
Charlie's solution to the bullying problem is to get popular, and obviously he comes up with another scheme. He starts to run amateur psychoanalytic/confessional sessions in the boys toilet stalls and provides prescribed drugs (from his various therapists and doctors) to try and help the other students with their problems. And as you would guess, providing these lost teens with help and support soon makes Charlie the most talked about guy in school; just as he'd wanted. But Charlie means well, he believes he's provided a well needed service and that he's the only one who'll listen. Sooner or later everyone from the students to administration staff knows (of) the infamous 'Charlie Bartlett'.
Almost everything from this film seems to be based around successful teen comedy's from the '70s, '80s and '90s like "Footloose" and "The Breakfast Club". The formula of a budding romance plus a coming-of-age film is always sure to be a winner. Like many high school related movies, it presents a fantasy of tolerance from the kids in different cliques - nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, drama clubbers etc - all having to come together to fight the adults in a battle for authority.
There's not too much I can say about this film without giving away crucial clues to the plot line and speaking as myself; I know how bloody annoying it is to have a film completely ruined by spoilers. Even though I am a huge lover of Robert Downey Jr and due to his good looks and natural charm he has forced Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3 and Avengers Assemble into my favourite films - I don't believe he was right for the role of a alcoholic school Principal who seems to have no power over his students. I kind of feel like he was wasted in the role and it should have gone to a different actor, someone slightly older (which would have made more sense to the fact he can't connect with the students).
I have to say that although I enjoyed this film, it did not live up to my expectations. It had the potential to be an amazing coming-of-age film as it explored the depressive and emotional side of teen life and the constant need to be liked rather than the typical drinking and partying perspective of most modern high school comedy's; but it felt too staged rather than it being able to flow. There is a great film waiting to be made about psychiatry, depression and our youth, but unfortunately this is not it.
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