Charlie Bartlett

Charlie Bartlett is one unhappy rich kid. His mother is a loopy drunk and he has a psychologist on call to help him navigate the choppy waters of teenage-hood. After getting kicked out of a string of private schools, the latest for running a fake-identification mill, the poor little rich kid lands in the concrete jungles. All the standard cliques are on hand, but his snappy threads and fish-out-of-water mouth immediately get Charlie in hot water. After undergoing the obligatory new-kid hazing, our hero makes a new name for himself and wins friends by acting as a bathroom psychiatrist, circumventing procedure and the law to prescribe his new patients their meds. Actually, the movie is mostly all good, albeit uneven. It’s a clever script well-played, with enough loopy turns to keep things fresh. And the seasoned supporting cast (Hope Davis, Robert Downey Jr.) gives lead Anton Yelchin a solid backbone to work with. As high school comedies go, it’s entertaining enough to keep from cutting class. Sort of an underachiever Rushmore.