2007 - The Education of Charlie Banks

I'm going to go ahead and admit I watched this movie because Fred Durst directed it. I had a major crush on him in 9th grade and I was interested to see if he could direct a film. Also, it actually had some pretty good reviews.

Charlie Banks (Eisenberg) witnesses a guy beat the crap out of another kid at a party in high school. He snitches and the guy is sent away, but no one knows it was him who told. Fast forward a few years and Charlie is in college. Guess who makes a surprise visit? The bully.

It's actually not a bad movie. It started out a little slow, but as I've said before, most indie dramas are slow paced. Jesse Eisenberg does a great job as usual. I really liked him in Adventureland and The Squid and the Whale. Jason Ritter plays the bully. He's very intimidating, especially to the awkward and meek Charlie.

It takes place in the 80's and it really looks like it. They definitely put a lot of effort in to make it look like the 80's without making it over the top like a lot of newer movies do to make SURE you know what decade they're in. The houses, the costuming, all look effortless.

I didn't take any notes during this film. It had an interesting storyline and interesting characters Aside from a few slow parts, it was really good.

Verdict?
4/5 stars. I really liked it!