More alienation in the educational system in Charlie Bartlett, an offbeat high-school comedy about a privileged rebel (the eponymous Charlie) who, having been expelled by every exclusive educational establishment in the county, finds acceptance at his new state school by offering a sympathetic ear and a suitcase full of prescription drugs.

The pharmaceuticals come courtesy of his own psychiatrist, a man who never met a symptom he couldn’t recklessly overmedicate. Anton Yelchin carries the film with a charismatic turn as Charlie; Robert Downey Jr is the frazzled school principal with a personal reason for distrusting this boy and his too-bright smile.

It’s an engaging little film, but ultimately, it’s not as quirky and unconventional as it thinks it is. Charlie is more interesting at the beginning of the picture, reflected in the adoring gaze of his neurotic mother (Hope Davis) and surrounded by priceless artefacts and empty pill bottles, than he is at the end as part of a fairly uninspiring teen romance.

15, 96mins

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