Ferris Bueller hovers over upstart ‘Charlie Bartlett’
Much as National Lampoon magazineÂ’s John Hughes, a generation ago, began delivering teen-comedy movies that spoke as persuasively to a grown-up audience as to the schoolkid sector, so has semi-newcomer director Jon Poll fashioned Charlie Bartlett as an upstart-student farce that will find its truer audience among those who remember how it felt to be young and vulnerable and defiant.
The long-delayed film, last promised for August and then early February but now due Feb. 22 in North Texas, combines the boisterous irresponsibility of HughesÂ’ Ferris BuellerÂ’s Day Off (1986) with the more melancholy, searching qualities of Texas filmmaker Wes AndersonÂ’s similarly conceived Rushmore (1998). All three pictures have in common a manipulative, prankish central character, but the resemblances run deeper. Poll and screenwriter Gustin Nash may be paying homage, here, but they also bring to the table a comparable depth of thought and characterization.
The centerpiece of Charlie Bartlett is a recurring confrontation between the title character, played by Russian-born Anton Yelchin, and a perpetually disappointed school administrator, played to the self-important, raw-nerved hilt by Robert Downey Jr.
Lest anyone get the impression that this battle of wills might be a recap of the Matthew Broderick–vs.–Jeffrey Jones smackdown in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, it bears mentioning that Jones’ temperamental Mr. Rooney in Bueller seems never to have been a spirited youngster. By striking contrast, Downey’s Principal Gardner in Bartlett appears to have been something of a free-thinking, youth-savvy teacher — until ambition and a misguided sense of responsibility drove him into a career that he despises. Whether by natural inclination or in response to his job, Gardner has become a chronic-to-acute alcoholic.
Yelchin’s Charlie Bartlett is a spoiled-brat charmer who has made a practice of disgracing his wealthy family by getting the boot from one private school after another. Charlie’s latest offense is a false-ID manufacturing scam — although his doting mother (played by Hope Davis) is quick to defend her son on the flimsiest of grounds: “You have to admit, they look very authentic.”
As a consequence of his scandalous behavior, Charlie finds himself packed off to a public school, where his fashionable prep-school blazer and rich-kid accoutrements mark him as an easy target. Charlie, aiming to become the most popular kid on campus, is undaunted. He courts the friendship of thugs, honor-rollers, athletes and outcasts alike, and his prevailing interest in human nature drives him to set up an amateur psychiatric practice. He hedges his bets for acceptance by dispensing drugs, secured via his familyÂ’s shrink.
This dope-addled subplot, which accounts largely for an R-as-in-restricted audience rating, is of course not a favorable nod to the irresponsible use of prescription medications. The device represents, rather, scripter NashÂ’s attempt to stretch beyond mere parody into the more difficult realm of satire. In a society that tacitly condones addiction as long as it comes with an Rx, asserts the movie, the line between clinical validation and outlaw distribution can become dangerously blurred. Of course, the risk of an overdose also accounts for some dizzying moments of slapstick comedy: DonÂ’t try this at home.
CharlieÂ’s seeming ability to provide pat solutions to everybody elseÂ’s emotional problems is, of course, a sham. His interference soon proves a threat to the established order, especially in a school where even the administrative counselorsÂ’ best advice appears useless by comparison with the kidÂ’s improvised bluff-wisdom. When Charlie develops an attraction to Principal GardnerÂ’s daughter, Susan (Kat Dennings), Gardner finds himself threatened as both an authority figure and a parent.
DowneyÂ’s Mr. Gardner and YelchinÂ’s Charlie would appear bound for a collision, with or without Kat DenningsÂ’ presence as a link between the characters. As written, her role is scarcely more than a plot device, but Dennings brings to the portrayal a droll and acerbic sense of humor that helps to stir the central antagonisms. Elsewhere among the supporting ranks, Tyler Hilton stands out as a hoodlum who becomes a guinea pig for CharlieÂ’s experiments with human nature. The lasting impression is that left by the tense, provocative emotional chemistry between Yelchin and Downey.
NashÂ’s screenplay veers toward ponderous life-lesson preachments while PollÂ’s direction balances things out with rebellious energy. Poll, an accomplished film editor and occasional producer (2005Â’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin) weighing in as a feature director, proves especially well equipped to convey the philosophical antagonisms between Yelchin and Downey.
Contact Price at mprice@bizpress.net
