Charlie Bartlett (15)

Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog) plays geeky rich kid Charlie Bartlett who has been kicked out of every private school to date and, on his first day at public school, gets a nasty beating from the school bully.

In order to survive and become popular, he sets himself up as the school shrink, dishing out advice and prescription drugs from the boys' toilets.

His fatal mistake is falling for the daughter (Kat Dennings) of the school principal (Robert Downey Jr), who is hot on his trail.

This is an edgy and highly entertaining coming-of-age comedy by first-time director Jon Poll. It is as slick and smooth as Bartlett himself.

Yelchin nails the part beautifully. He is sweet, charming and wonderfully optimistic and a great foil for Downey as the disenchanted head determined to get Bartlett at any cost.

Downey, fresh from Iron Man, gives another quirky and engaging performance. The only downside is that it's hard to believe that Bartlett would turn from geek to cool dude so quickly, but it's definitely worth seeing.

MARIA DUARTE