Date started (challenge): 3/29/20 Date started (movie): 2/18/21 Date finished (movie): 2/18/21
Synopsis: A rich kid becomes the self-appointed psychiatrist to the student body of his new high school.
Rating: 8/10
I hadn’t even heard of this movie until now. It wasn’t a recommendation or anything like that. I was just scrolling through Amazon Prime, one movie search lead to another and I stumbled on this. I figured it might be interesting to see an early Anton Yelchin.
I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not your typical coming of age movie. Of course, there’s moments like that but for the most part, it’s something else. And there was more substance than I expected too.
It’s very character driven. In fact, I’d say most of the joy watching it comes from seeing how the relationships develop between Charlie and his classmates. You really get to know a lot about these characters throughout the course of it’s runtime. And they develop really well throughout too. I personally felt bad for Charlie initially.
It’s funny in sections too. Not like a belly laugh kind of funny but I liked the humor in it. Most of all, it’s a heartwarming movie. I didn’t expect that at all out of it but it was really heartwarming and cute.
The acting was pretty good. Anton Yelchin is the star of the show and he puts on such a great performance. Granted, he was acting before that but there’s some depth to this. Robert Downey Jr was in it too and I’m a fan of his. He was good but it was more of a supporting role than anything else. And for those of you interested, the rapper Drake has a very minor role in this movie.
I liked the cinematography in the movie. It was lower-budget to a degree and some of the settings were interesting to see.
Overall: A surprisingly heartwarming, different and funny coming of age movie. It’s heavy on the characters and the best part about the movie is seeing the relationships and the characters develop over the course of the movie. You get to know them well. Acting is pretty good too, most notably Anton Yelchin. I liked the cinematography as well, it was lower budget and added something special to the school setting.
I like the dark, romance-y, coming of age, nostalgic 90’s feel these have and am looking for other movies like these!
Started and Finished: 5/11/2020
Rating: 3/5
Charlie Bartlett is a fantastic feel-good movie. There are excellent performances from all actors and actresses involved but Anton Yelchin is obviously the star here. He was an insanely talented actor who sparked so much life into the character Charlie Bartlett. This is the first I’ve seen of the young actor and I’m impressed... and also very depressed to find out about his death in 2016...
As for the writing and comedy there isn’t much to be said. Despite the dark subject matter the humor was super clean for an R rated comedy... The characters (besides the principle and Charlie) were cliché and overall there isn’t many memorable things about them. High school stereotypes galore. I laughed maybe two or three times, and although it’s very upbeat and simplistic I still probably wouldn't watch more than once.
Tl;dr: Fantastic acting and enjoyable for one viewing. However the jokes were surprisingly PG for an R rated comedy and I wasn’t a fan of all the cliches.
Can some one suggest me good coming-of-age movies, where main character is kind of crazy and
story should have a college or school world.
Tia.
Bear in mind, this is my opinion and you may have your own, that does not make mine or yours wrong in any way.
In my very personal opinion, this movie hits all of the notes I am looking for in a good film: touch of comedy and drama, some real-world themes, and nicely done character and story development.
The seriousness of a lonely high school boy just trying to find a crowd he belongs to hits me right at home. The splash of comedy that Murphy brings alone as the enemy-turned-best-friend makes me believe (possibly naively) that there are ways to talk about problems with those who seem too angry to talk things out. The alcoholic father and drug-riddled mother who are caught up in their own problems to parent their own children who are massively struggling with their own feelings and emotions. The theme of mental illness within the youth who choose to turn to drugs because they do not feel safe sharing how they actually feel with their parents. So much about this movie feels too real in society and those are the movies that I actually enjoy. The ones that can make me feel real emotions and open my eyes to real problems that are happening. I love the performances by Anton Yelnich (rest his soul) and RDJ. It is very refreshing to not have to be razzle dazzled by amazing fight sequences. These two did very well to portray their characters, albeit a bit extreme, but to carry the message of the story.
Hope you enjoyed the movie as I did. It is definitely one I would enjoy coming back to.
I think this movie was made low budget and totally independently. No movie stars I don't think. It was a comedy movie and the comedy was totally weird. I just can't think of any actual parts of the plot. I think he moves somewhere new and develops a crush. He might be living with extended family of some kind. maybe he moves to California. Maybe he breaks an arm or a leg during the movie. I'm not sure. I really can't remember a lot about this movie but I can remember some people saying the characters name over and over again after we watched it but I don't really talk to them all much anymore. I always want to say the name is Wilson Briar but that's from Tom Goes to the Mayor. The name might be similar to that.
One can't help but lament the untimely death of Anton Yelchin; he brings such wonderful quirky energy to this film. But, dang, I forgot how emotional RDJ can make me! It's a real roller coaster of feelings from and about his character. It's been a long time since I've seen this; it was nice to revisit.
I think this film would be a good contender for the collection. Nobody I know has heard of it and it's probably one of my favorite movies. Great acting by the late Anton Yelchin and Robert Downey Jr. Solid story about a high schooler who provides therapy to other students and "prescribes" them medication. It's a great film, some really light hearted moments, but also reaches some dark places as well. It also doesn't have a blu ray release that I'm aware of. I've been waiting for years to upgrade my DVD. I think if Criterion it could even be a decent seller, due to the cast. What does everyone think?
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/31sa9n/actor_anton_yelchin_joined_by_director_victor/
Charlie Bartlett is one of my favourite movies of all time! I love his character in the movie and how he pulls all his devious exploits with such a cheeky manner, buuuuuut one can only watch the same movie so many times before it gets boring, so I am looking for any suggestions on movies that are similar... Thaaaaanks :)
Writing a teen comedy, need some help finding my reference works. Many thanks to everyone!
in civil war, Tony's mom is played by Hope Davis. Downey Jr. and Davis have worked together before, in the film "Charlie Bartlett" in which Davis plays the wealthy and eccentric mother to the title character. In that movie, there is a scene where she sings along while a piano is being played, much like how she does in Civil War. This could be coincidental, but I really don't think so.
Charlie Bartlett holds a special place in RDJ's heart, because it was one of the first movies he did when he was starting to get his life/career back together. In it he played a school principle and recovering alcoholic, something that probably hit close to home at the time. I really would like to think he paid tribute to that film by having Davis play his mom, and sing at the piano. What do you guys think, Has this been confirmed at all?
In the movie, Charlie Bartlett, there's a scene towards the end where things get depressing and in the background there is a song playing that's just a guitar going back and forth between a couple chords. I can't find anywhere to listen to the soundtrack, I can only get 30 second snippets of each song on Amazon, and that's not helping. I heard a similar rhythym in the song Jennie by Parachute (https://youtu.be/8XbwoLbcgbc) between 1:25-1:30. I don't know why, but this has been driving me crazy. Any help would be appreciated.
Edit: I found the song in the movie, still don't know what song it is. https://youtu.be/CTV0KCodJt8 (starts at 5:42)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423977/
I had no intentions of watching this film at all as I was scrolling through Netflix, but the cover and noticing Robert Downey Jr. was in the film caught my attention.
Now an hour and 36 mins later, I have to say I loved it. It wasn't perfect but I found it easy to connect to and it's over glorified hero, Charlie Bartlett. Because as human beings I think everyone of us wants to be liked by other people (am I wrong in grossly-generalizing that!?). Just like Charlie, the films protagonist, feels and that desire of admiration gets him into more than a few mischievous tales.
In any coming of age highschool film you come across a myriad of cliches, usually having the bullied as the protagonist and the bully as the antagonist and this film does the same, but it's what it does with that similar setup is what makes it stand out.
Anton Yelchin who I just realized plays that foreign guy in the new Star Trek films makes a great performance as the titular hero. He's endearing, funny, and likable. Robert Downey Jr. stars in what I consider an unusual role for him because he's playing a father and a principal, someone who holds tons of responsibility, but I think he did a great job as well. The supporting cast were great as well, the mom and Kat Dennings especially.
Also a lot of Degrassi characters in here as well. I noticed Drake, Paige, Craig, and Marco, I forget who else.
I wish I could have seen it when I was in highschool, but I will still find it applicable to my college life. I found myself relating most with that loner kid, Kip. I really loved his line to RDJ, something like "Doing this play will make it less likely for me to take my own life". Really funny!
Can anyone help me out? Here are some others I've seen and really loved!
Mud Into the Wild The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Would really appreciate some suggestions, want to watch a movie on netflix today! :)
