CHARLIE BARTLETT

Instead, we have an enjoyable variation on Rushmore and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Anton Yelchin’s mixture of apparent innocence and extraordinary guile is just right for Charlie, an enterprising young man who has been thrown out of countless private schools.

Despairing mom Marilyn (Hope Davis) sends him to the local state school where he does everything he can to win favour with his new classmates, including impromptu counselling sessions and selling them antidepressants.

This attracts the attention of sozzled, cynical Principal Gardner, a tailor-made role for Robert Downey Jr, who isn’t given nearly enough to do.

Charlie Bartlett’s brazen surface may conceal a soft centre but even as it veers towards the safe and predictable, this is still a lot of fun.

OUR VERDICT: 3/5
(Cert 15; 96 mins)