CHARLIE BARTLETT IS TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL"People like you ARE THE REASON
people like me NEED MEDICATION"
A New Ferris Bueller for a new generation. Meet Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchen). Despite being well-to-do, he has been kicked out of every private school that his mom (Hope Davis) couldn't bribe to get him back in. The only answer left; public school. After the initial resistance to a new, well-spoken kid in school, Charlie finds a way to make friends, become popular and help his peers. I really liked this movie. I admit that I first just wanted to see another Robert Downey Jr. role
(Principal Gardner) but soon into the movie, there was room for two reasons. Downey plays the straight man to Yelchen's Charlie and does an amazing job.There are some disturbing scenes where the fantasy of what Charlie does leeds to a serious outcome. The second is when Principal Gardner also realized the consequences to his actions (or lack thereof). Downey is lovely and so very human and lets Gardner carry his pain with misplaced anger and sarcasm. He is a man who has given up, in many ways, This is NOT your parent's Ferris Bueller, although it carries pieces of Some Kind Of Wonderful, and other John Huges films. You may wince through a scene or two even though it is mostly comedic. What was refreshing is that not everybody rides off to a happy ending. However the ending is truthful and touching. Hope Davis is wonderful as Charlie's upper-class mother on Xanax. Not a spectacular movie, however still well done and sharp.PICK: Well done on all accounts: acting, directing, writing. Good job.
