CHARLIE BARTLETT

HEADLINE: ** More Coming of Age Debauchery **
TITLE: CHARLIE BARTLETT
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VV
Sex: S
Nudity: NN

RATING: R
RELEASE: February 22, 2008
TIME: 97 minutes
STARRING: Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings, Hope Davis, and Robert Downey, Jr.
DIRECTOR: Jon Poll
PRODUCERS: Steve Longi, Gustin Nash, David Permut, Barron Kidd, Jay Roach, and Sidney Kimmel
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: William Horberg, Jennifer Perini, Trish Hofmann, and Bruce Toll
WRITER: Gustin Nash
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: MGM

CONTENT: (PaPa, B, Ro, HoHo, VV, S, NN, AA, DDD, MM) Mostly mixed pagan worldview with some light elements of morality, mostly near the end of the movie, and some elements of Romanticism, glorifying the losing of one's virginity, positive encouragement in friendship, attempting understanding between enemies, and respecting even the lowliest of persons, talk of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, message of forgiveness of actions and shortcomings of parental figures, suicidal attempts because depression cannot always be cured by words alone, but love through time spent can cure more than we know, unbalanced ideas of moral parenting (e.g., Charlie gets expelled from two schools and ends up in jail but his charm scores him only 30 hours grounded as punishment); at least 36 obscenities and profanities (nearly half of them "f" bombs); several violent scenes mostly of the school bully fist fighting and taking advantage of the smaller students, one scene involving the shooting of a gun several times in anger and in a threatening manner but never at an individual, and there is a moment when the audience thinks the shooter is going to commit suicide, but finds that it is a false alarm; four instances of sexual talk and innuendos, two implied fornication scenes, with lots of skin shown accompanied by touching and kissing; other than occasional swimsuit model cutouts on the walls of students' rooms, one scene reveals a male wearing only underwear, while another shows two topless females running down the school hallway; about 10 instances of alcohol use and one extreme case of drunkenness; excessive drug use as the main characters are considered the school's pharmacists, mention of all types of drugs, but characters only shown smoking cigarettes, marijuana, and popping unadvised pills; and miscellaneous immorality such as teenage rebellion, retrieving a fake ID, lying and disrespecting elders, pulling the school fire alarm, and rioting on school property.

GENRE: Dark Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults

Please address your comments to:

Dan Taylor, President, MGM Pictures
Harry Evans Sloan, Chairman/CEO
Clark Woods, President of Distribution, MGM Studios Inc.
10250 Constellation Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 900067
Phone: (310) 449-3000, Fax: (310) 449-8819
Website: www.mgm.com

SUMMARY: CHARLIE BARTLETT is a dark coming of age comedy that chronicles a lovable adolescent's mischievous search for effective modes of popularity and leadership, which offers hope that understanding and harmony can exist between groups that stereotypically collide in society. The positive aspects of Charlie's journey are tainted by a mostly mixed pagan worldview with a saturation of violence, drug use, profanity, and one scene revealing upper female nudity.

IN BRIEF:

CHARLIE BARTLETT is a dark coming of age comedy that chronicles a lovable adolescent's mischievous search for popularity and leadership. From the first day in his new school, Charlie attempts to make friends and search out the needs of his student body. As a result, he becomes the school's pharmacist, supplying the entire student population with prescription drugs. The movie follows Charlie as he fights for love with the principal's daughter and finds the balance between fulfillment of his dreams and school system compliance. A student overdoses on one of the drugs supplied by Charlie, but Charlie's leadership also ends a possible student riot and brings a father and daughter closer together.

CHARLIE BARTLETT contains skewed, unbiblical views of homosexuality, parenting, and sexual relations. There is also some violence, drug use, and profanity. The movie shows two minimally graphic sex scenes, as well as a nude scene that reveals two topless females parading down a hall. On the positive side, the movie discusses the benefits, costs, and endless possibilities of leadership. The movie also offers hope that understanding and harmony can exist between groups that stereotypically often collide in our society.