Because There’s No Such Thing As Too Much Downey
I was probably too young in the 80s and 90s to properly enjoy Robert Downey Jr. I always knew who he was but didn’t care about his work. Then he crashed and didn’t work for a few years. Then a movie came out called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Downey kicked all kinds of ass, and he was back.
I’m talking about Charlie Bartlett today, and Downey has a small part. A week after seeing the movie he is what stands out to me the most about the film.
The story is of a sheltered, rich high school kid entering public schools for the first time. He immediately doesn’t fit in and gets his ass kicked until his Mom gets him prescribed to Ritalin. He starts up a business of sorts in the school bathroom offering life advice and drugs for the students.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of Ferris Bueller. Anton Yelchin plays Charlie as a kid desperate for popularity but unwilling to show his desperation. He generally comes across as a kinda pathetic (whether that’s intentional or not, that’s how I saw it) attention whore. Really, isn’t that what Bueller was? I’m not denying that they’re both very charming and funny, but it is what it is.
Back to Downey, he is the principal of the high school and the father of Charlies’ girlfriend. He is not respected by the students even though he is fair and well intentioned. I don’t know, maybe I’m getting old, but I identified with his character more than any of the students. I don’t feel bad about that. Fortunately, I haven’t turned out to be one of those people in their late 20s who fret about getting older and turning their back on their youth. I embrace it. Bring on the gray hair, I’ll rock a white mane til long after I bite the dust.Okay, okay, off the subject, I know.
I’m sure there is meant to be a message embedded in this film, but the delivery falls short. It takes place in the 80s and seems to be making a statement about the overindulgence of the decade (a dead topic and an easy target) and the over reliance on drugs for children that became rampant in that time period. (My own brother was prescribed Ritalin back then, though the dosage was discontinued once my parents realized it made him worse.) Carrying a message in an entertaining film is tricky, and vice versa. This film definitely works more as simply entertainment, and in that respect it is everything it strives to be.
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