Charlie Bartlett

Kicked out of the prestigious Castlewood School for peddling fake Connecticut drivers' licenses to his classmates, baby-faced junior entrepreneur Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) returns to the huge family home where his tipsy, medicated mother, Marilyn (Hope Davis), has been rattling around since Dad left the picture. Lonely Marilyn, who always treated her son more like an adult than a kid, is thrilled, and the ever-optimistic, eager-to-be-liked Charlie is game to give public school a try. Sadly, his first day is a disaster. Charlie's Candlewood blazer and tie cause students to mistake him for a teacher; the popular kids shun him at lunch; he gets a swirlie and a stairwell butt-kicking from his new nemesis, mohawked punk Murphy Bivens (Elvis look-alike Tyler Hilton), and his only new friend is friendly, hulking Len (Dylan Taylor) from special ed. Charlie's gentlemanly charisma, however, does catch the attention of pretty, drama-club starlet Susan Gardner (Kat Dennings), who, unfortunately for Charlie, is also the daughter of hard-drinking Principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.). When Charlie returns home with a black eye, Marilyn pops a Klonopin and calls in her first line of defense: family psychiatrist Dr. Weathers (Stephen Young), who immediately writes a prescription for that modern-day adolescent panacea, Ritalin. But it makes Charlie jumpy, and after a night of bounding around the estate in his underwear, he hires Murphy to help him sell the remaining pills at the school dance for $10 a pop. The dance becomes a prescription-drug-driven rave, and overnight Charlie goes from geek to most popular guy in school. Never one to pass up a business opportunity, Charlie parlays his ongoing therapy into cash while actually helping his troubled peers: He sets up an "office" in the boys' room and, like a priest in his confessional, listens to the neurotic student body's woes, passing along the advice and -- more importantly -- medications his battery of psychiatrists are supplying. The doctor is most definitely in.

The film rests squarely on Yelchin's slim shoulders; he's in every scene and, happily, a pleasure to watch. Ditto Davis and Downey, who seems to be maintaining his own even keel by channeling the self-destructive impulses that once plagued him into characters with substance-abuse problems. The film dares to tread some dark territory, addressing adolescent issues like depression, anxiety, sexuality and pressures to conform from friends and family. It's derivative but always heartfelt, and never sacrifices an honest moment for a cheap gag. That -- and the absence of tired gross-outs involving bodily fluids -- earns this earnest comedy a few extra points. leave a comment --Ken Fox