Pump up The Volume. As you may or may not know, Pump Up The Volume is the 1990 film featuring Christian Slater as a renegade teenage radio host with a kind of f*ck the system mentality. It is basically about a socially misfitted person who becomes the person other people are dependent upon. In Charlie Bartlett we follow a similar young man, who struggles with life and all its inconsistencies. Helping others is the way he can forget about his own problems. So he becomes the school shrink. Of course there is the logical addition of a love interest, but in this movies, it's done quite nicely. It's not stretched out too far, doesn't really take up a lot of time in the movie (I'm talking about the getting so far that she is his girlfriend). So Charlie gets into trouble, tries again, tries again, ... and eventually succeeds. It's a classic feelgood-movie, which has very little social commentary but at times situations are quite recognizable. However, if you look at the movie from a broader perspective, it becomes clear that the guy you're rooting for (Charlie) is actually just a little prick. Which makes the conclusion of this film absolutely weird. But the again this story made very little sense.
Watch it like a teen comedy that tries to be intelligent and don't really focus on the fact that it doesn't succeed in this purpose and you will enjoy it. I know I did.
Watch it like a teen comedy that tries to be intelligent and don't really focus on the fact that it doesn't succeed in this purpose and you will enjoy it. I know I did.