Charlie Bartlett is the perfect example of how an overdone, uber cliché film that has been done thousands of times can still have new things to say and still surprise you with an original line or two. What's disappointing is that such a witty and promising film with a really great cast still played to the old stereotypes of what the film industry has decided high schools should look like on screen. The cliques are all there, the John Hughes archetypes are all in attendance, and kids of different races don't associate with each other unless it's a special occasion or they're forced to. For a film to tout that its title character is a champion for the rights of teenagers, it is highly disappointing to see the filmmakers treat teenagers with such misunderstanding and disrespect.

Anton Yelchin plays Charlie, a nerdy kid who has been forced to take care of his spacey, pill-popping mother (Hope Davis) because his father is in jail. Charlie longs to be popular, and has recurring dreams of being on stage in front of a crowd of his peers while they chant his name. To become popular, Charlie starts running various scams, like making fake IDs, and this leads to his expulsion from every private school he's attended. So his mother decides to send him to public school, where he is instantly beat up by Murph (Tyler Hilton) for carrying an attache case and being too smart for his own good.

There is one good thing about Charlie's new school – he meets Susan Gardner (Kat Dennings), the drama club president and principal's daughter who smokes in back alleys and starts calling Charlie “Professor.” He and Susan start a relationship, much tot he chagrin of Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.) and Charlie teams up with Murph to start psychoanalyzing students and prescribing medication to them out of the boys bathroom. Their operation springs from Charlie's recent A.D.D. misdiagnosis. He realized that he could sell his leftover Ritalin, so Murph was able to make some extra cash and Charlie quickly became a legend at his school.

The story for this film is a little too complicated and long for what it was, but on the plus side, some really interesting things were said about prescription drug abuse and there were some really funny moments sprinkled throughout. The cast on this film was fantastic – especially Tyler Hilton as Murphey Bivens. He was initially the most simple character with the least depth, but Hilton managed to create a very complex and likable character. Anton Yelchin on the other hand was very charming and cute, but failed to bring any depth or substance to a character who could have easily become an icon.

Hollywood still doesn't understand how to portray teenagers on screen without making them over-sexed, drugged up psychopaths who fit into perfect little stereotypical roles. At one point during the film, Charlie Bartlett had the book “Youth in Revolt” by C.D. Payne sitting on his nightstand. An interesting little reference, because the writer of Charlie Bartlett is writing the film version of that book. Hopefully the production of that film will be able to really reflect an honest teenage voice, not a contrived one.