Column:

‘Charlie’: not bad, predictable

By Dan Moore

Published Feb. 29, 2008

If you want to know why there are no more John Hughes movies, see “Charlie Bartlett.” I don’t mean that as an insult to either party; Hughes is a generational icon, and “Charlie Bartlett” is moderately entertaining. It’s just that a John Hughes movie — and make no mistake, “Charlie Bartlett” wants to be one — requires, more than anything else, a constant grasp on the subtly false tone that makes ‘80s teen movies so distinct.

“Charlie” makes the most obvious grab for the “Sixteen Candles” brass ring in years, and while its writer and director are unable to maintain that fragile tone throughout, it’s a worthy entry into teen moviedom.

The eponymous Charlie Bartlett, played by Anton Yelchin in full Michael J. Fox mode, is a fabulously wealthy high school student who has been kicked out of all the private schools in the area. He finds himself a too-polite, blazer-wearing public school pariah until he realizes he can sell the drugs prescribed to him by his mother’s legion of overzealous psychiatrists. He quickly becomes a Ferris Bueller figure with people shouting his full name down halls and waiting in long lines for a chance to talk about their problems in his bathroom office. He also, naturally, finds love and an angry principal, as well as the inevitable lesson.

The first hour of “Charlie” is a revelation. We’re given an aesthetic that’s less mannered and more timeless than “Juno,” and a series of characters who, in grand John Hughes fashion, represent every possible high school archetype. Almost consciously dated and movie-like in its treatment of these cliques, “Charlie” gives us bullies with mohawks, clean-cut football jocks, goths, cheerleaders and anybody else who could possibly be classified as a member of a group. Each has his own problem, which Charlie unravels with pat Dr. Phil truisms. Upon being “fixed” his followers join his school-wide cult of personality.

The problems come in the shambling second half, where first-time screenwriter Gustin Nash proves unable to keep hold of the effortless Hughesian tone he created early on. Most damaging is the way in which every character is given a “Breakfast Club”-y I-have-problems speech, including the alcoholic principal, the minor characters Charlie helps and his mother, who’s been set up in the first half as little more than comic relief. This sudden betrayal of comedy and pacing completely shatters the John Hughes feel.

“Charlie Bartlett” might stumble to a disappointing conclusion, but it knows how a teen movie is supposed to end. Our charm-heavy hero realizes the error of his ways, a major school event goes off without a hitch thanks to his efforts and, most importantly, he gets the girl. She and the principal realize Charlie is a decent kid, for all his shortcomings, and we realize “Charlie Bartlett” is a decent movie, for all its shortcomings. It’s certainly no “Better Off Dead...” but there are worse movie fates than that.