Synopsis
Awkward teenager Charlie Bartlett has trouble fitting in at a new high school. Charlie needs some friends fast, and decides that the best way to find them is to appoint himself the resident psychiatrist. He becomes one of the most popular guys in school by doling out advice and, occasionally, medication, to the student body.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Anton YelchinCharlie Bartlett
- Robert Downey Jr.Nathan Gardner
- Hope DavisMarilyn Bartlett
- Kat DenningsSusan Gardner
- Tyler HiltonMurphy Bivens
- Mark RendallKip Crombwell
- Dylan TaylorLen Arbuckle
- Megan ParkWhitney Drummond
- Jonathan MalenJordan Sunder
- Stephen YoungDr. Stan Weathers
Recommendations
- 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Yelchin delivers one of those performances that pop eyes... It's a breakthrough role. - 80
Variety
Rollicking story of a rich kid whose wildly successful bid for popularity has him playing drug-distributing shrink to an entire high school boasts pitch-perfect faceoffs between upstart Anton Yelchin and alcoholic principal Robert Downey Jr. that could fuel a chemistry lab. - 75
ReelViews
I would classify Charlie Bartlett as a smart teen film. It's more ambitious and overall more successful than its '80s forebears even though the resemblance is unmistakable. - 60
Village Voice
Like most wannabe heroes of the eager-to-please teen comedy, poor little rich boy Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is too charming by half and not nearly quirky enough. - 58
Entertainment Weekly
Robert Downey Jr. is an uncomfortable sight as the school's hard-drinking, overstressed principal. - 50
Austin Chronicle
Sequences like the silly montage of Charlie on Ritalin (which just looks like the precious doodles of a former editor), grievously underdeveloped characters, and heavy heapings of sap instead of snark keep Charlie Bartlett from making the dean’s list. - 50
Charlotte Observer
Decent acting forestalls the inevitable collapse for a long time. - 30
Washington Post
The movie feels forced, cliched and derivative.
