The Education of Charlie Banks (2007)

the audience applauded

Overrated and overhyped

Memorable, crazy movie

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's the early 70s NYC. A 10 year old Charlie Banks admires from afar the neighborhood tough kid Mick Leary. Later as teenager, Charlie (Jesse Eisenberg) is introduced to Mick (Jason Ritter) by Danny Bowman (Chris Marquette) at a party. Mick savagely beats up two jocks and Charlie gives him up to the police for attempted murder. Charlie recants and the police has to release Mick. Years later, Charlie and Danny are roommates in college chasing girls like Mary (Eva Amurri) and Nia (Gloria Votsis). Then Mick shows up to crash in their room. He injects himself into all aspects of Charlie's life. Charlie starts to wonder if Mick knows that he was the one who turned him in.The writing is a little bit wonky and the directing from Fred Durst is unimaginative. Eisenberg is good as his usual nervous weakling character. Ritter is ill-fitting as the vicious explosive Mick. I really don't understand where that character is suppose to be but Ritter is not nearly tough enough. I don't blame him for stretching but he's not right for the role. Overall, it's an uneven but otherwise interesting coming-of-age movie.

I start my review letting you know what this movie's title has nothing to do with the story itself, since it's not centered in Charlie Banks' education. Well, this movie is about a violent guy that shows up in the house of two old friends after years without seeing each other, in order to "spend some time". What friends didn't know is that Mick, the violent old "friend", is a stressed guy that puts a fight for anything. However, Mick shows to be a very friendly person, hugging and caring about the other guys all the time, so they couldn't see he was still a rowdy person. What is interesting to testify in this movie is how violent people almost never change. I know some guys that were pretty violent in high school and, many of them still are, specially with women. Performances are professional and Jason Ritter deserves to be congratulated in this work. Good and different movie, which mainstream fans won't probably enjoy.

Saw this on Netflix streaming movies. Now that Jessie Eisenberg has become well known after his starring role in "The Social Network" it is interesting to see him in an earlier movie. I'm not sure he has much range as an actor, but he was ideal for this role.Jesse Eisenberg is Charlie, and we see glimpses of his character in grade school. He is a timid sort, and we see a kid his age who hangs around with older kids, smokes, and appears to be a "hot head." In high school, the bully kid, Mick, gets angry, beats a larger guy to near death in his anger. To do the right thing Charlie, a witness to the attack, reports Mick, and the police arrest him. Charlie's friend Danny doesn't approve, because he is also friends with Mick. It gets a bit complicated.However a few years pass, Charlie is in college at a pastoral campus in upstate NY, Mick and his trouble are long forgotten. That is, until Charlie comes back to his dorm room, shared with Danny, and finds Mick there. Shocked, Charlie wonders if Mick has come to get revenge. It is unclear why Mick is there, and how long he will stay, and soon he is "auditing" courses.I never much cared for Jason Ritter as an actor, but here as bad boy Mick he is very good. Maybe that is the key, he is made for bad boy roles. Eva Amurri is Mary, the college girl that Charlie likes, but that Mick steals away. And Chris Marquette (of Joan of Arcadia) is Danny.SPOILERS: Mick seems to be toying with Charlie, at once seeming to be ready to beat him to a pulp or then playing around with him. Mick is a dangerous person and Charlie treats him that way. It turns out Mick is on the run from the law, after getting into a fight and beating someone to death. He has a close similar incident on campus when insulted by someone. Finally Mick disappears, we don't know his fate, but we do see that he is troubled, he understands his fault but doesn't know how to deal with it.

As the directorial debut from Limp Bizkit's outspoken and often loathed frontman, Fred Durst, it's safe to say that the bar was set very low for "The Education of Charlie Banks" -- too low, as a matter of fact, as Durst's film (drawn from a screenplay by Peter Elkoff) is a surprisingly rich experience that unfortunately sat on the shelf for too long after being made and which got virtually ignored by critics and mainstream audiences alike.Opening in the mid-70's and then picking up sometime in the 80's, "The Education of Charlie Banks" tells the story of a bully (Jason Ritter) who appears as some sort of boogeyman to the title character (Jesse Eisenburg). Though the two make acquaintances as teenagers, it isn't until his college years that Charlie finds himself being truly haunted by the ultra-violent hot-head when he shows up unexpectedly in the dorm-room he shares with his childhood friend (Chris Marquette). Slowly, he works his way into Charlie's life, tagging along in spite of the fact that he never quite fits in. Has this friend from the past changed his ways, or is he just a hot-head ready to blow at any minute?Without a doubt, the film was influenced by the films of Martin Scorsese (see the "Raging Bull" poster in Charlie's room) and although it's not quite in the same league, it's a noble effort nevertheless. The film reaches for lofty heights, and thanks to its credible cast, reaches them. You'll feel immersed in the characters and situations in "The Education of Charlie Banks" and while it's ending doesn't exactly resolve anything, ultimately resembles reality a bit closer than the average coming-of-age story. It's a well-written and well-paced story directed almost effortlessly by Durst that should intrigue the interested and silence the critical.