Rated R
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis, Kat Dennings and Robert Downey Jr.

Charlie Bartlett is comedy with a message. It’s kind of like Ferris Bueller's Day Off meets Rushmore. Anton Yelchin plays Charlie, an enterprising, yet mischievous, rich kid whose antics get him kicked out of one private school after another. His strange mother, played wonderfully by Hope Davis, puts him into public school as a last resort. Charlie battles the stigma of being the “new kid” and becomes the target of the school bullies, but then appoints himself as the school therapist marketing prescription meds and he gains overnight popularity. Charlie starts dating hot girl, Susan (Kat Dennings) putting him at odds with her father, the school principal (Robert Downey Jr).

Written and directed by virtual newcomers Gustin Nash and Jon Poll, Charlie Bartlett is insightful and amusing. Yelchin gives a terrific performance and Robert Downey Jr. proves yet again that he is one of the best and most underrated actors of his generation. Tyler Hilton was perfectly cast as the bully who softens up along the way. He surprisingly deviates from the normal high school bully stereotypes. Also Mark Rendall's role in this film as the depressed boy who comes to Charlie for help showed amazing range. Davis is a superbly funny as Charlie’s quirky mom. But I found Dennings to be a bit annoying at times. Her romantic scenes with Yelchin are the weakest in the film. She was a poor casting choice given the subplot about her singing and her inability to carry a tune.

Charlie Bartlett has something meaningful to say about the chemical coping methods running amuck in today’s society. The movie follows the usual formulas of other high school comedies, but it has a uniquely clever premise and enough charm to rise above the teen movie pitfalls. At times, the story tends to be a bit preachy, but entertaining and funny enough to forgive the predictable ending. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Vantage Point

In Columbia Pictures' action-packed thriller "Vantage Point," eight strangers with eight different points of view try to unlock the one truth behind an assassination attempt on the president of the United States. Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) are two Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Ashton (William Hurt) at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When President Ashton is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues and disparate lives collide in the hunt for the assassin. In the crowd is Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), an American tourist who thinks he’s captured the shooter on his camcorder while videotaping the event for his kids back home. Also there, relaying the historic event to millions of TV viewers across the globe, is American TV news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver). As they and others reveal their stories, the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place – and it will become apparent that shocking motivations lurk just beneath the surface. Opening in 3,149 theaters.

Witless Protection

Larry the Cable Guy returns for another comic misadventure as a small town sheriff who unwittingly gets involved in a high profile FBI case in Lionsgate's new comedy, "Witless Protection." During a routine day spent patrolling his small town, Larry witnesses a beautiful, high-class woman, Madeleine, being held against her will by four mysterious, black-suited men. Recognizing the opportunity to save the day, Larry "kidnaps" her, only to learn that Madeleine is actually a key witness in a high-stakes Chicago crime case and her captors are FBI agents assigned to protect her. Madeleine is furious. But Larry, who rightly suspects the agents are crooked and Madeleine is in danger, forces her on a harebrained trip to Chicago to solve the case himself. Together, the hilariously mismatched duo must grapple with angry FBI agents, quack doctors and Chicago high society in his funniest, most unpredictable adventure yet. *PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO NOT WRITE THESE PLOT SUMMARIES* Opening in 1,333 theaters.

Charlie Bartlett

Anton Yelchin ("Alpha Dog") stars as Charlie Bartlett, who has been kicked out of every private school he ever attended. And now that he's moved on to public school, he's simply getting pummeled. But when Charlie discovers that the kids who surround him – the outcast and the popular alike – are secretly in desperate need, his entrepreneurial spirit takes over. Hanging up his shingle in the Boys' restroom, Charlie becomes an underground, not to mention under-aged, shrink who listens to the private confessions of his schoolmates, and makes the imprudent decision to hand out the pills he's proffered from his own psychiatric sessions. Meanwhile, at home, Charlie keeps charming his way out of an inevitable confrontation with his adoring but utterly overwhelmed mother Marilyn (Hope Davis.) Then, Charlie Bartlett makes his big mistake: falling in love with the beautiful and bold daughter (Kat Dennings) of the school's increasingly disenchanted Principal (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is hot on his trail. As Charlie Bartlett's world and fledgling psychiatric practice unravel, he begins to discover there's a whole lot more to making a difference than handing out pills. Opening in 1,122 theaters.

Be Kind Rewind

Jack Black stars in "Be Kind Rewind," a one-of-a-kind comedy from the mind of writer/director Michel Gondry ("Dave Chappelle's Block Party," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). Black stars as a loveable loser stuck in a life that's too small for his big dreams. But when he unintentionally erases all the tapes in a video store where his best friend works, he devises a plan to satisfy the store's few loyal customers by re-creating and re-filming every movie they decide to rent. Opening in 808 theaters.

The Signal

It's New Year's Eve in the city of Terminus and chaos is this year's resolution. All forms of communication have been jammed by an enigmatic transmission that preys on fear and desire driving everyone in the city to murder and madness. In a place once marked by conformity but now sent into complete anarchy, the rebellious Ben must save the woman he loves from the bedlam in the streets as well as her crazed sadistic husband. But the only way he can tell who to trust or who has given in to violence is by uncovering the true nature of The Signal. Told in three parts from three unique perspectives by three visionary directors, "The Signal" was originally conceived as an experimental film project called "Exquisite Corpse" where one filmmaker would begin a story then hand it off to another filmmaker to continue and then to another and so on until the movie was complete. The story eventually took shape and evolved into a sci-fi/horror/thriller that imagines a world where everyday anxieties become the catalyst for inhuman terror. "The Signal" is a horrific journey towards discovering that the most brutal monster might actually be within all of us. Opening in 160 theaters.