Movie Review

Charlie Bartlett (2008)

Reviewed by Lisa Schwarzbaum | Feb 20, 2008

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Lisa Schwarzbaum is a film critic for EW

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EW's GRADE

C+

Details Release Date: Feb 22, 2008; Rated: R; Length: 97 Minutes; Genre: Comedy; With: Robert Downey Jr. and Anton Yelchin

BARTLETT PAIR Anton Yelchin (left, with Robert Downey Jr.) is Charlie Bartlett, the titular guru-hero of an antic yet bland... Charlie Bartlett, Anton Yelchin, ...

Image credit: Ken Woroner

BARTLETT PAIR Anton Yelchin (left, with Robert Downey Jr.) is Charlie Bartlett, the titular guru-hero of an antic yet bland comedy

Appropriating many of the rebel responsibilities of Ferris Bueller and Rushmore's Max Fischer but little of their fresh charms, the title teen iconoclast of this antic yet bland comedy is showily updated for our psychotropic age. Rich kid Charlie Bartlett, an (Alpha Dog's Anton Yelchin) becomes a guru-hero to his classmates, holding shrink sessions in the high school bathroom and handing out prescription elixirs (i.e., antidepressants, Ritalin) to the needy. Robert Downey Jr. is an uncomfortable sight as the school's hard-drinking, overstressed principal. C+

Originally posted Feb 20, 2008 Published in issue #980 Feb 29, 2008 Order article reprints

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