by Jonathan Lavigne
Staff Writer

I remember watching movies in my teenage years, wishing I could be as cool as their main protagonists.

I wanted to be radio pirate like Will Scarlett (Christian Slatter) in “Pump Up The Volume.” I wanted to be a rebel like John Bender (Judd Nelson) in Breakfast Club. I wanted to be singing on a float and outwitting everyone like Ferris Beuller (Matthew Broderick) in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

Now, despite being way out of my teenage years, I want to be Charlie Bartlett in the film that was aptly named after him.

A very well off and enterprising kid, Bartlett (Anton Yelchin from Hearts of Atlantis) is expelled from his umpteenth private school and is sent to public school. In hopes of being socially accepted, he tries to council kids on their problems and prescribes them common anti- depressants such as Xanax and Xoloft during his lunch break.

Everyone becomes happier and people finally like Bartlett. But problems arise when he starts dating the daughter principal’s (Robert Downey Jr., “Iron Man”) daughter (Kat Dennings, “40 Year Old Virgin”). Father and authority issues pop up, and Bartlett’s seemingly easy ride to the top of the social chain hits a few speed bumps.

The movie has a very classic style to it, so making comparisons to classic 80’s movies weren’t hard. The film feels like it was released a few decades too late, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some movies just have that immortal “watch it anytime and it still feels fresh” vibe to it and this one is definitely worth a weekend matinee.