I read a couple of other reviews of Charlie Bartlett (2007) that said it was too derivative of other teen comedies, and not as well done. And while it may be true that it used a similar formula, it isn't true that this wasn't well done---it was humorous and also touching, with a nice mixture of teen angst and bravado thrown in.
Charlie is a high schooler, very well off, and somewhat troubled. He keeps being thrown out of private schools for his entrepreneurial capers...like selling very good fake IDs. So he off to a public school and an psychiatrist.
At the shrink he is prescribed ritalin, and while it doesn't help him much, he figures out he can sell it and make a ton, getting other kids high. He keeps adjusting his symptom to the shrink, and other shrinks, and keeps getting more prescriptions...xanax, prosac etc. He then acts as the school shrink and re-prescribes the meds (at a nice markup) to other students. He is popular and happy.
Of course it all comes crashing down, and he has to find real happiness.
Anton Yelchin does a terrific job as Charlie...the right mix of earnestness, innocence and cockiness. And Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie's principal and father of his maybe girlfriend, brings his magic to a role that could have been very so-so with another actor. I swear he could turn a National Lampoon role into an Oscar contender.
Look, Charlie Bartlett is not ground-breaking, and it will not be considered in a all-time-greats list. But it was fun, funny and very entertaining. That ain't so bad!
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