Scan and Pan
Monday, March 24, 2008
Shutter
Photographer Ben (Joshua Jackson) and his new bride Jane (Rachael Taylor) travel to Japan for a honeymoon before he has to begin a new work assignment in Tokyo. While driving to Mount Fuji, Jane accidentally runs over a young woman (Megumi Okina) who suddenly appears in the middle of the road. No body is found, but soon strange flashes of light begin to appear in Ben's photographs and weird things happen to the couple, leading Jane to believe that they're being haunted by the young woman's spirit.
The original Thai film released in 2004 was one of the more terrifying and palpitation-inducing films I've had the pleasure of viewing. This remake is anything but. Despite being an American production, the director is Japan's Masayuki Ochiai (Saimin, Kansen), whose flat direction drains all of the suspense out of the story. I'm not surprised by this result, because I wasn't very impressed by his earlier work on 1999's Saimin, which had the same flaws and was an unscary mess. Instead of using atmosphere and carefully executed camera work to generate scares like the original did, he resorts to cheap jump scenes that we've seen too many times before.
The screenplay by Luke Dawson is generally faithful to the original film's story, but he's managed to take something that was unpredictable and scary and transform it into something that is predictable and boring. It's been dumbed down, over-explained, and generally made as obvious as possible for its intended teenaged American audience.
Jackson is too wooden and Taylor too histrionic as the protagonists. Okina, previously a victim of a ghost in Ju-on: The Grudge, is effective as the ghostly antagonist. The cast also includes David Denman and John Hensley as Ben's friends, Maya Hazen as Ben's assistant Seiko, and James Kyson Lee as Seiko's ex-boyfriend who publishes a magazine dealing with the phenomenon of spirit photography.
Shutter is a dull, unimaginative remake of a really good horror film. It should only prove frightening to someone who has never seen a horror film before, let alone a good one like the one this is based on. Take my usual advice in these matters and just watch the original on DVD.
[1.5 out of 5 stars]
It's getting to the point where I feel like I don't even need to watch an American remake of an Asian horror film. I can just assume it's inferior and be absolutely correct in that assessment. Take this film as further proof of that.
Photographer Ben (Joshua Jackson) and his new bride Jane (Rachael Taylor) travel to Japan for a honeymoon before he has to begin a new work assignment in Tokyo. While driving to Mount Fuji, Jane accidentally runs over a young woman (Megumi Okina) who suddenly appears in the middle of the road. No body is found, but soon strange flashes of light begin to appear in Ben's photographs and weird things happen to the couple, leading Jane to believe that they're being haunted by the young woman's spirit.
The original Thai film released in 2004 was one of the more terrifying and palpitation-inducing films I've had the pleasure of viewing. This remake is anything but. Despite being an American production, the director is Japan's Masayuki Ochiai (Saimin, Kansen), whose flat direction drains all of the suspense out of the story. I'm not surprised by this result, because I wasn't very impressed by his earlier work on 1999's Saimin, which had the same flaws and was an unscary mess. Instead of using atmosphere and carefully executed camera work to generate scares like the original did, he resorts to cheap jump scenes that we've seen too many times before.
The screenplay by Luke Dawson is generally faithful to the original film's story, but he's managed to take something that was unpredictable and scary and transform it into something that is predictable and boring. It's been dumbed down, over-explained, and generally made as obvious as possible for its intended teenaged American audience.
Jackson is too wooden and Taylor too histrionic as the protagonists. Okina, previously a victim of a ghost in Ju-on: The Grudge, is effective as the ghostly antagonist. The cast also includes David Denman and John Hensley as Ben's friends, Maya Hazen as Ben's assistant Seiko, and James Kyson Lee as Seiko's ex-boyfriend who publishes a magazine dealing with the phenomenon of spirit photography.
Shutter is a dull, unimaginative remake of a really good horror film. It should only prove frightening to someone who has never seen a horror film before, let alone a good one like the one this is based on. Take my usual advice in these matters and just watch the original on DVD.
[1.5 out of 5 stars]
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Funny Games
A wealthy married couple (Tim Roth, Naomi Watts) and their young son (Devon Gearhart) arrive at their lake house for a vacation. Paul (Michael Pitt) and Peter (Brady Corbet), two charming young men who initially appear with one of the couple's neighbors, take the family hostage, treating it as a game and betting the family that they won't be alive when the next morning arrives.
Writer/director Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher) remakes his own earlier production of the same name, but to lesser effect. What seemed daring eleven years ago now seems merely shallow and pretentious, especially when moved to an American setting. Haneke thinks he's being far more clever than he actually is, and the whiff of authorial smugness wafting from the screen is somehow appropriate for a film that offers up such leaden satire.
The subtext about audience enjoyment of cinematic violence has been better explored by a film like The Devil's Rejects, which I find far more subversive than the original Funny Games or this remake. There's such a chasm of emotional detachment in Funny Games that one simply cannot connect with it. If Haneke wants to make us uncomfortable accomplices to torture and murder, then he needs to make us enjoy it and then he needs to make us feel uncomfortable about enjoying it. Boring us, as he does here, defeats his own purpose.
The talents of a gifted cinematographer like Darius Khondji (The City of Lost Children, Se7en) are wasted on a production that the director wants lit in such a flat manner. Production designer Kevin Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction, Michael Clayton) perfectly realizes the bourgeois lifestyle of the family.
The cast is the film's only strong point. Pitt and Corbet perfectly capture the banality of evil in a chilling fashion as a latter day Leopold and Loeb. The performances of the actors playing the family are also quite good: Roth plays against type as the helpless father, Watts is compelling as the traumatized but defiant mother, and Gearhart is believable as the terrified child.
The real torture in Funny Games is that which is visited upon the audience by a filmmaker more intent on wagging his finger in our faces than on telling a compelling story or even making us feel something.
[1.5 out of 5 stars]
A pretentious exercise in satire that has no apparent reason to exist, seeing as how it's a scene-for-scene remake of a 1997 film from Austria by the same filmmaker.
A wealthy married couple (Tim Roth, Naomi Watts) and their young son (Devon Gearhart) arrive at their lake house for a vacation. Paul (Michael Pitt) and Peter (Brady Corbet), two charming young men who initially appear with one of the couple's neighbors, take the family hostage, treating it as a game and betting the family that they won't be alive when the next morning arrives.
Writer/director Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher) remakes his own earlier production of the same name, but to lesser effect. What seemed daring eleven years ago now seems merely shallow and pretentious, especially when moved to an American setting. Haneke thinks he's being far more clever than he actually is, and the whiff of authorial smugness wafting from the screen is somehow appropriate for a film that offers up such leaden satire.
The subtext about audience enjoyment of cinematic violence has been better explored by a film like The Devil's Rejects, which I find far more subversive than the original Funny Games or this remake. There's such a chasm of emotional detachment in Funny Games that one simply cannot connect with it. If Haneke wants to make us uncomfortable accomplices to torture and murder, then he needs to make us enjoy it and then he needs to make us feel uncomfortable about enjoying it. Boring us, as he does here, defeats his own purpose.
The talents of a gifted cinematographer like Darius Khondji (The City of Lost Children, Se7en) are wasted on a production that the director wants lit in such a flat manner. Production designer Kevin Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction, Michael Clayton) perfectly realizes the bourgeois lifestyle of the family.
The cast is the film's only strong point. Pitt and Corbet perfectly capture the banality of evil in a chilling fashion as a latter day Leopold and Loeb. The performances of the actors playing the family are also quite good: Roth plays against type as the helpless father, Watts is compelling as the traumatized but defiant mother, and Gearhart is believable as the terrified child.
The real torture in Funny Games is that which is visited upon the audience by a filmmaker more intent on wagging his finger in our faces than on telling a compelling story or even making us feel something.
[1.5 out of 5 stars]
Doomsday
2035. Twenty-five years after the Reaper Virus ravaged Scotland and the British government built a wall across the north of England to keep the infected and dying inside, the virus reappears in London. The government knows that some people survived in Scotland, so they place Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), who as a child was one of the last people to make it out of Scotland, in charge of a team to go there to locate a possible cure. When the team reaches Glasgow, they discover it's now under the control of a gang of cannibalistic punks calling themselves the Marauders. Can Eden and her team survive the Marauders and find a cure before it's too late?
Writer/director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) tosses Mad Max, Escape from New York, Resident Evil, and 28 Days Later into a blender and pours a tall glass of unpleasant cinematic mess for the audience. Marshall the director has a certain flair for action scenes, but Marshall the screenwriter lets him down with a derivative story and worse, one that takes itself far too seriously. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, it could have been campy fun. Marshall's earlier films were creative genre films, which makes this one even more disappointing.
Marshall works with some familiar creative personnel from Dog Soldiers and The Descent, including cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who delivers some stylish lighting, and production designer Simon Bowles, who creates a convincing post-apocalyptic Scotland. The score by Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects, 300) is adequate.
Mitra, a former live action model of Tomb Raider Lara Croft for public appearances and promotions, is surprisingly credible as a female Snake Plissken (the anti-hero from Escape from New York), but she's consistently undermined by the poor writing. Craig Conway is energetically over the top as Sol, leader of the Marauders, but his schtick quickly becomes tiresome. Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell appear to be just picking up paychecks as, respectively, Eden's boss and a rogue scientist.
The cast also includes Alexander Siddig as the British Prime Minister, David O'Hara as the real power behind the government, Darren Morfitt and Sean Pertwee as two scientists sent on the mission, MyAnna Buring as the rogue scientist's daughter, and Lee-Anne Liebenberg as Sol's beloved, Viper.
Doomsday is an inferior post-apocalyptic action film that copies much better films without understanding what made them entertaining. Do yourself a favor and go watch those films instead.
[2 out of 5 stars]
It looks far more interesting in advertisements than it is in actuality, in large part due to a stunning lack of originality.
2035. Twenty-five years after the Reaper Virus ravaged Scotland and the British government built a wall across the north of England to keep the infected and dying inside, the virus reappears in London. The government knows that some people survived in Scotland, so they place Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), who as a child was one of the last people to make it out of Scotland, in charge of a team to go there to locate a possible cure. When the team reaches Glasgow, they discover it's now under the control of a gang of cannibalistic punks calling themselves the Marauders. Can Eden and her team survive the Marauders and find a cure before it's too late?
Writer/director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) tosses Mad Max, Escape from New York, Resident Evil, and 28 Days Later into a blender and pours a tall glass of unpleasant cinematic mess for the audience. Marshall the director has a certain flair for action scenes, but Marshall the screenwriter lets him down with a derivative story and worse, one that takes itself far too seriously. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, it could have been campy fun. Marshall's earlier films were creative genre films, which makes this one even more disappointing.
Marshall works with some familiar creative personnel from Dog Soldiers and The Descent, including cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who delivers some stylish lighting, and production designer Simon Bowles, who creates a convincing post-apocalyptic Scotland. The score by Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects, 300) is adequate.
Mitra, a former live action model of Tomb Raider Lara Croft for public appearances and promotions, is surprisingly credible as a female Snake Plissken (the anti-hero from Escape from New York), but she's consistently undermined by the poor writing. Craig Conway is energetically over the top as Sol, leader of the Marauders, but his schtick quickly becomes tiresome. Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell appear to be just picking up paychecks as, respectively, Eden's boss and a rogue scientist.
The cast also includes Alexander Siddig as the British Prime Minister, David O'Hara as the real power behind the government, Darren Morfitt and Sean Pertwee as two scientists sent on the mission, MyAnna Buring as the rogue scientist's daughter, and Lee-Anne Liebenberg as Sol's beloved, Viper.
Doomsday is an inferior post-apocalyptic action film that copies much better films without understanding what made them entertaining. Do yourself a favor and go watch those films instead.
[2 out of 5 stars]
Monday, March 17, 2008
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a down on her luck governess in late 1930s London. After being fired from several jobs due to her personality, she steals a contact from the agency she works for and suddenly finds herself working as the personal secretary of singer and actress Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), leading to a whirlwind of a day helping Delysia resolve her romantic entanglements while finding some of her own.
Screenwriters David Magee (Finding Neverland) and Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) adapt Winifred Watson's novel for the big screen, and along with director Bharat Nalluri (The Crow: Salvation) do a credible job of evoking the spirit of 1930s romantic comedies, but this film could use a bit more screwball and a touch more fizz to really stand out. Nalluri's best work here is with his sparkling cast, but he struggles at times with keeping the tone light and the pacing steady.
Cinematographer John de Borman (The Full Monty, Ella Enchanted) employs soft lighting to play up the romantic angle in an excellent fashion, while production designer Sarah Greenwood (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) and costume designer Michael O'Connor (Nomad, The Last King of Scotland) convincingly recreate a bygone era. Paul Englishby (Magicians) adds a jazzy score that bounces along from start to finish.
McDormand delivers a winning performance as the dour governess who suddenly blossoms into a fashionable personal secretary under the guidance of a vibrant younger woman. Adams once again demonstrates what a funny and charming light comedic actress she is as the ditzy Delysia, and also gets to show off her singing abilities again (as she did so well in last year's Enchanted). Lee Pace (star of television's Pushing Daisies) is good as Michael, one of Delysia's many paramours, although one wishes that his character had more to do in the film and was written to stand out more as a love interest. Reliable Irish character actor Ciarán Hinds has fun with a more romantic role as a fashion designer who falls for the title character.
Among the other notable performances are Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle in two of the Harry Potter films) as a friend of Delysia and Miss Pettigrew's rival for Hinds' character, Tom Payne as the wealthy young producer of a musical Delysia's trying to get the lead role in, and Mark Strong as Delysia's club-owning sugar daddy.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day lacks some of the zaniness and energy necessary to be really good screwball romantic comedy, but thanks to the cast it's an above average film with decent entertainment value.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
A light truffle of a romantic comedy that provides a moderate dose of amusement.
Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a down on her luck governess in late 1930s London. After being fired from several jobs due to her personality, she steals a contact from the agency she works for and suddenly finds herself working as the personal secretary of singer and actress Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), leading to a whirlwind of a day helping Delysia resolve her romantic entanglements while finding some of her own.
Screenwriters David Magee (Finding Neverland) and Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) adapt Winifred Watson's novel for the big screen, and along with director Bharat Nalluri (The Crow: Salvation) do a credible job of evoking the spirit of 1930s romantic comedies, but this film could use a bit more screwball and a touch more fizz to really stand out. Nalluri's best work here is with his sparkling cast, but he struggles at times with keeping the tone light and the pacing steady.
Cinematographer John de Borman (The Full Monty, Ella Enchanted) employs soft lighting to play up the romantic angle in an excellent fashion, while production designer Sarah Greenwood (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) and costume designer Michael O'Connor (Nomad, The Last King of Scotland) convincingly recreate a bygone era. Paul Englishby (Magicians) adds a jazzy score that bounces along from start to finish.
McDormand delivers a winning performance as the dour governess who suddenly blossoms into a fashionable personal secretary under the guidance of a vibrant younger woman. Adams once again demonstrates what a funny and charming light comedic actress she is as the ditzy Delysia, and also gets to show off her singing abilities again (as she did so well in last year's Enchanted). Lee Pace (star of television's Pushing Daisies) is good as Michael, one of Delysia's many paramours, although one wishes that his character had more to do in the film and was written to stand out more as a love interest. Reliable Irish character actor Ciarán Hinds has fun with a more romantic role as a fashion designer who falls for the title character.
Among the other notable performances are Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle in two of the Harry Potter films) as a friend of Delysia and Miss Pettigrew's rival for Hinds' character, Tom Payne as the wealthy young producer of a musical Delysia's trying to get the lead role in, and Mark Strong as Delysia's club-owning sugar daddy.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day lacks some of the zaniness and energy necessary to be really good screwball romantic comedy, but thanks to the cast it's an above average film with decent entertainment value.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
Monday, March 10, 2008
Penelope
A curse put on a wealthy family generations ago finally comes to pass when Penelope (Christina Ricci) is born with the nose and ears of a pig. Her frantic parents (Richard E. Grant, Catherine O'Hara) fake her death and hide her away for years. Believing that the curse can be removed if a man of her own kind (meaning one of privilege) falls in love with her, they bring suitable young men to court her, but they all run away when they see her. One of those men, Edward (Simon Woods), is publicly ridiculed for his stories of a pig-nosed monster, and hatches a plan with dogged reporter Lemon (Peter Dinklage) to expose the truth in a bid to restore his reputation. Their secret weapon is Max (James McAvoy), a down on his luck blue blood they hire to court Penelope and take a photo of her as evidence. Will Max be able to go through with the plan or will he fall in love with Penelope instead?
Director Mark Palansky (a former assistant to Michael Bay) makes his debut with a project that on the surface sounds like a Tim Burton film. While Palansky lacks the unique visual flair of Burton (or even Bay), he ably blends comedy and romance into an entertaining brew with a feel good message. The film proceeds in an uneven manner at times, but there are enough strengths on display to offset that. The screenplay by Leslie Caveny (a former staff writer for television's Everybody Loves Raymond) provides a story that's one part charming modern fairy tale and one part an important message about beauty and self-esteem, the latter aimed at the young female demographic that the production seems tailor made for.
The cinematography of Michel Amathieu (responsible for the "Place des Fêtes" segment of Paris, je t'aime) is competent but also a bit flat. Although it was filmed in London, production designer Amanda McArthur (Passion in the Desert, St. Trinian's) niftily constructs a cityscape that's not-quite London and perhaps is a metropolis that only exists in this tale. The score by Joby Talbot (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) ably complements the story's different textures.
Ricci is really a lovely presence here, filling the screen with an innocent charm and sweetness that makes it all the more heartbreaking when she experiences rejection after rejection. Of course, on a physical level, Ricci is so lovely that even a prosthetic pig snout can't disguise it and the suspension of disbelief necessary to buy into the story must be extended to men fleeing in fright at her appearance. Ricci's on-screen charm is ably matched by that of McAvoy, which adds to the strong chemistry they have. Grant and O'Hara give fine comedic performances as Penelope's parents.
The rest of the cast is also quite good, including Reese Witherspoon (one of the film's producers) as the first real friend Penelope makes, Dinklage in a dryly funny turn as Lemon, Burn Gorman as another reporter, Woods as Edward, Ronni Ancona as a matchmaker, Lenny Henry as a detective, Nick Frost as a gambling acquaintance of Max's, and Richard Leaf as a barman.
Penelope may be fairly predictable in the way romantic comedies tend to be, but the journey is what it's all about and the cast is what makes it such a fun one to take. Take it for yourself and you'll also fall in love with the film and its titular character.
[4 out of 5 stars]
A quirky romantic comedy with touches of fantasy, a winning cast, and a little bit of magic.
A curse put on a wealthy family generations ago finally comes to pass when Penelope (Christina Ricci) is born with the nose and ears of a pig. Her frantic parents (Richard E. Grant, Catherine O'Hara) fake her death and hide her away for years. Believing that the curse can be removed if a man of her own kind (meaning one of privilege) falls in love with her, they bring suitable young men to court her, but they all run away when they see her. One of those men, Edward (Simon Woods), is publicly ridiculed for his stories of a pig-nosed monster, and hatches a plan with dogged reporter Lemon (Peter Dinklage) to expose the truth in a bid to restore his reputation. Their secret weapon is Max (James McAvoy), a down on his luck blue blood they hire to court Penelope and take a photo of her as evidence. Will Max be able to go through with the plan or will he fall in love with Penelope instead?
Director Mark Palansky (a former assistant to Michael Bay) makes his debut with a project that on the surface sounds like a Tim Burton film. While Palansky lacks the unique visual flair of Burton (or even Bay), he ably blends comedy and romance into an entertaining brew with a feel good message. The film proceeds in an uneven manner at times, but there are enough strengths on display to offset that. The screenplay by Leslie Caveny (a former staff writer for television's Everybody Loves Raymond) provides a story that's one part charming modern fairy tale and one part an important message about beauty and self-esteem, the latter aimed at the young female demographic that the production seems tailor made for.
The cinematography of Michel Amathieu (responsible for the "Place des Fêtes" segment of Paris, je t'aime) is competent but also a bit flat. Although it was filmed in London, production designer Amanda McArthur (Passion in the Desert, St. Trinian's) niftily constructs a cityscape that's not-quite London and perhaps is a metropolis that only exists in this tale. The score by Joby Talbot (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) ably complements the story's different textures.
Ricci is really a lovely presence here, filling the screen with an innocent charm and sweetness that makes it all the more heartbreaking when she experiences rejection after rejection. Of course, on a physical level, Ricci is so lovely that even a prosthetic pig snout can't disguise it and the suspension of disbelief necessary to buy into the story must be extended to men fleeing in fright at her appearance. Ricci's on-screen charm is ably matched by that of McAvoy, which adds to the strong chemistry they have. Grant and O'Hara give fine comedic performances as Penelope's parents.
The rest of the cast is also quite good, including Reese Witherspoon (one of the film's producers) as the first real friend Penelope makes, Dinklage in a dryly funny turn as Lemon, Burn Gorman as another reporter, Woods as Edward, Ronni Ancona as a matchmaker, Lenny Henry as a detective, Nick Frost as a gambling acquaintance of Max's, and Richard Leaf as a barman.
Penelope may be fairly predictable in the way romantic comedies tend to be, but the journey is what it's all about and the cast is what makes it such a fun one to take. Take it for yourself and you'll also fall in love with the film and its titular character.
[4 out of 5 stars]
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Charlie Bartlett
Rich kid Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) gets kicked out of yet another private school, so his mother (Hope Davis) sends him to a public school. He doesn't fit in at first, being mocked for his style of dress and beaten up by the school bully (Tyler Hilton). After being prescribed Ritalin by a psychiatrist and enjoying its effects, Charlie begins to sell his pills to other students. With his popularity suddenly rising, Charlie decides to counsel his fellow students and get them the drugs they need to deal with their emotional problems, a course of action that puts him in conflict with the school's alcoholic principal (Robert Downey Jr.) while also winning Charlie the affections of the principal's teenaged daughter Susan (Kat Dennings).
First time feature film director Jon Poll (a former film editor whose credits include Monkeybone and Meet the Fockers) takes a decidedly low key approach to the story that allows for a surprisingly thoughtful examination of teen angst. The screenplay by Gustin Nash is a refreshing 21st century take on the time honored student vs. principal genre, resembling as much as anything a darker John Hughes film filled with edgy satire but still having an emotional core that understands its characters' need for popularity and self-expression as they're poised between the worlds of childhood and adulthood. If some of it seems familiar at times, its snarky sense of humor (right down to "no teenagers were harmed during the making of this movie" in the end credits) and engaging cast allow it to rise above that.
Yelchin's combination of vulnerability and quiet charm brings the title character to life with a subtle shading rare for such a young actor. He's someone to keep your eye on as his career develops further. Downey's performance reveals a keen understanding of what makes his character tick, a man who routinely drowns his pain in alcohol, and he's able to bring some depth to the role that makes him more interesting than just being the authority figure tying to keep the crazy kids down. Dennings supplies some fresh-faced charm as Charlie's love interest.
The supporting cast is also very good, including Davis as Charlie's ditzy mother, Hilton as the school bully, Mark Rendall as an outcast who expresses himself by writing a play, Dylan Taylor as a mentally handicapped student befriended by Charlie, Derek McGrath as the tough-minded superintendent, and David Brown as a sympathetic police officer.
I have to admit, I liked both Charlie Bartlett the film and Charlie Bartlett the character. There's a certain sweetness to both of them that allows the film's message that the problems of young adults are ignored or minimized by those around them, including authority figures, to resonate with some emotional depth. Also, it's just plain funny.
[4 out of 5 stars]
This teen comedy had its release date changed several times before it was finally dumped in the off-season, usually a good indication that a film isn't very good. Not this time. This one is actually a quite good and quite funny film about teens and their problems.
Rich kid Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) gets kicked out of yet another private school, so his mother (Hope Davis) sends him to a public school. He doesn't fit in at first, being mocked for his style of dress and beaten up by the school bully (Tyler Hilton). After being prescribed Ritalin by a psychiatrist and enjoying its effects, Charlie begins to sell his pills to other students. With his popularity suddenly rising, Charlie decides to counsel his fellow students and get them the drugs they need to deal with their emotional problems, a course of action that puts him in conflict with the school's alcoholic principal (Robert Downey Jr.) while also winning Charlie the affections of the principal's teenaged daughter Susan (Kat Dennings).
First time feature film director Jon Poll (a former film editor whose credits include Monkeybone and Meet the Fockers) takes a decidedly low key approach to the story that allows for a surprisingly thoughtful examination of teen angst. The screenplay by Gustin Nash is a refreshing 21st century take on the time honored student vs. principal genre, resembling as much as anything a darker John Hughes film filled with edgy satire but still having an emotional core that understands its characters' need for popularity and self-expression as they're poised between the worlds of childhood and adulthood. If some of it seems familiar at times, its snarky sense of humor (right down to "no teenagers were harmed during the making of this movie" in the end credits) and engaging cast allow it to rise above that.
Yelchin's combination of vulnerability and quiet charm brings the title character to life with a subtle shading rare for such a young actor. He's someone to keep your eye on as his career develops further. Downey's performance reveals a keen understanding of what makes his character tick, a man who routinely drowns his pain in alcohol, and he's able to bring some depth to the role that makes him more interesting than just being the authority figure tying to keep the crazy kids down. Dennings supplies some fresh-faced charm as Charlie's love interest.
The supporting cast is also very good, including Davis as Charlie's ditzy mother, Hilton as the school bully, Mark Rendall as an outcast who expresses himself by writing a play, Dylan Taylor as a mentally handicapped student befriended by Charlie, Derek McGrath as the tough-minded superintendent, and David Brown as a sympathetic police officer.
I have to admit, I liked both Charlie Bartlett the film and Charlie Bartlett the character. There's a certain sweetness to both of them that allows the film's message that the problems of young adults are ignored or minimized by those around them, including authority figures, to resonate with some emotional depth. Also, it's just plain funny.
[4 out of 5 stars]
