dman476
07-28-2007, 12:27 AM
**REVIEW**
http://www.cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2373/_11837562233478.jpg
Directed by: Jon Poll
Written by: Gustin Nash
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings, Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis, Tyler Hilton
PROZAC DEGENERATION
In the latest teen comedy to grace our presence - a rich, good looking, and intelligent teen, who loves doing illegal things (all the while helping people), has an encounter with reality. Charlie Bartlett, the titular character of the film, is forced to attend a public high school after being kicked out of nearly every private school. Like most kids his age, Bartlett yearns to be popular (citing that the only purpose of high school is to get people to like you) and he figures out a new way to get the screwed up kids at his new school to like him: give them emotional support as a shrink, of course. After recycling nearly every single high school comedy cliché, this film leaves as the same people as we had entered the theater, with a smile but without insight.
A charming protagonist could not save this film because it was doomed from the beginning. Despite what seemed to be a fresh take on the genre, this film lacks the electricity and unique humor that is needed to make films like this stand out.
Instead, it goes the same route that all these other films have gone before it, making it a kid vs. adult war, with the kids being the know-it-alls, and the adults clueless and bumbling morons. On the one hand, this film presents an understandable dilemma.
On the other, it really makes no sense. In The Simpsons Movie, a rich mogul foolishly exclaims (non-verbatim), “For once, the white rich man has power”. This film presents the same paradigm, but unfortunately, it takes itself far too seriously when it says the same thing. Charlie Bartlett is rich and smart, does he really need to create innovative schemes to make him popular? Then again, who knows what happens at high schools these day, so maybe I’m looking for logic where it doesn’t belong.
Now, it may be an old fashioned assumption, but aren’t comedies only as good as how much they make people laugh? Charlie Bartlett uses sophomoric humor to elevate the situations to a sometimes absurd surrealist level. It works when it’s smart and original, but when it stoops to the same type of humor everyone else does, it’s just another teen comedy. And what is that good for if it doesn’t even deliver on the laughs?
One thing the film certainly got right was the casting. Anton Yelchin plays the aforementioned Charlie Bartlett with great ease and comfort, and that’s something the filmmakers should thank the heavens for, because his performance either makes or breaks the film completely. Kat Dennings is equally sympathetic as the rebellious but loving Susan Gardner, the principal’s daughter. The cast is also filled with a slew of eccentric and funny characters, all of which deliver on the goods as well. If anything, this film is better acted than most high school comedies, but the writing just doesn’t elevate the film to that level, unfortunately. Some films I want to like, and Charlie Bartlett certainly was such a film. It tries to do something new, and even if it did fail, at least it tried. For that it was even more interesting than the other similarly trite teen comedies.
The film’s only true down point is its preachy moral side, which really is not only unbelievable, but unnecessary. It completely drags the film down and establishes the film as genre-confused and indecisive. With the incision of that whole segment and a few blatant clichés, this film could have been a very decent comedy. As it stands, it is fluff - you’ll most likely be humming the snazzy jazz music from the film than actually thinking about the actual film itself.
6/10
http://www.cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2373/_11837562233478.jpg
Directed by: Jon Poll
Written by: Gustin Nash
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings, Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis, Tyler Hilton
PROZAC DEGENERATION
In the latest teen comedy to grace our presence - a rich, good looking, and intelligent teen, who loves doing illegal things (all the while helping people), has an encounter with reality. Charlie Bartlett, the titular character of the film, is forced to attend a public high school after being kicked out of nearly every private school. Like most kids his age, Bartlett yearns to be popular (citing that the only purpose of high school is to get people to like you) and he figures out a new way to get the screwed up kids at his new school to like him: give them emotional support as a shrink, of course. After recycling nearly every single high school comedy cliché, this film leaves as the same people as we had entered the theater, with a smile but without insight.
A charming protagonist could not save this film because it was doomed from the beginning. Despite what seemed to be a fresh take on the genre, this film lacks the electricity and unique humor that is needed to make films like this stand out.
Instead, it goes the same route that all these other films have gone before it, making it a kid vs. adult war, with the kids being the know-it-alls, and the adults clueless and bumbling morons. On the one hand, this film presents an understandable dilemma.
On the other, it really makes no sense. In The Simpsons Movie, a rich mogul foolishly exclaims (non-verbatim), “For once, the white rich man has power”. This film presents the same paradigm, but unfortunately, it takes itself far too seriously when it says the same thing. Charlie Bartlett is rich and smart, does he really need to create innovative schemes to make him popular? Then again, who knows what happens at high schools these day, so maybe I’m looking for logic where it doesn’t belong.
Now, it may be an old fashioned assumption, but aren’t comedies only as good as how much they make people laugh? Charlie Bartlett uses sophomoric humor to elevate the situations to a sometimes absurd surrealist level. It works when it’s smart and original, but when it stoops to the same type of humor everyone else does, it’s just another teen comedy. And what is that good for if it doesn’t even deliver on the laughs?
One thing the film certainly got right was the casting. Anton Yelchin plays the aforementioned Charlie Bartlett with great ease and comfort, and that’s something the filmmakers should thank the heavens for, because his performance either makes or breaks the film completely. Kat Dennings is equally sympathetic as the rebellious but loving Susan Gardner, the principal’s daughter. The cast is also filled with a slew of eccentric and funny characters, all of which deliver on the goods as well. If anything, this film is better acted than most high school comedies, but the writing just doesn’t elevate the film to that level, unfortunately. Some films I want to like, and Charlie Bartlett certainly was such a film. It tries to do something new, and even if it did fail, at least it tried. For that it was even more interesting than the other similarly trite teen comedies.
The film’s only true down point is its preachy moral side, which really is not only unbelievable, but unnecessary. It completely drags the film down and establishes the film as genre-confused and indecisive. With the incision of that whole segment and a few blatant clichés, this film could have been a very decent comedy. As it stands, it is fluff - you’ll most likely be humming the snazzy jazz music from the film than actually thinking about the actual film itself.
6/10