POPULARITY IS A STATE OF MIND.
After getting kicked out from several high schools, 17-year-old Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) arrives at a new school and finds a career as a layman shrink; he also starts dating the principal’s daughter… What does it mean to be a rebel? This film introduces us to several characters who seem to be pondering the issue, including the rich kid who tries to figure things out with help from Ritalin, and his principal who’s genuinely unhappy with his job and drinks too much whisky. The story takes a few unexpected twists and turns and benefits a lot from Yelchin’s performance as the industrious but troubled Charlie.
2008-U.S. 97 min. Color. Directed by Jon Poll. Cast: Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett), Robert Downey, Jr. (Nathan Gardner), Hope Davis (Marilyn Bartlett), Kat Dennings, Tyler Hilton, Mark Rendall.
Trivia: Hope Davis also played Yelchin’s mother in Hearts in Atlantis (2001).
