The Perks of Being a Wallflower
3.5/4
Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Stone, Ezra Miller, Dylan McDermott, Kate Walsh, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Rudd, Mae Whitman, Joan Cusack
Rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Material, Drug and Alcohol Use, Sexual Content including References and a Fight--All Involving Teens
Originally, I thought "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was going to be an emo movie about teen angst (not the kind of movie that's my cup of tea, if you haven't already guessed). That's certainly the vibe I got from hearing about it. I suppose it is about teen angst and the characters are all off the beaten path, but it's not emo.
Charlie (Lerman) is just starting his freshman year in high school. It's not going well; he has barely walked through the door and he's already getting bullied. He's shy and quiet. A loner. That is until he gets the courage to start talking to the class clown, Patrick (Miller) at a football game. They become fast friends, and Charlie develops feelings for Patrick's stepsister, Sam. But having friends presents some new obstacles to navigate.
While the ins and outs of being in high school are broadened considerably, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is still much more perceptive than many high school films like "She's All That" or "Election" (one of the most overrated high school movies of all time after "Heathers"). On some level, we all know what it's like to feel alone in a sea of people who seem to have it all. This is what makes the film feel real.
The acting is effective. Logan Lerman is effective as Charlie. He's a shy and softspoken individual (due to a past trauma, he suffered from blackouts and flashbacks, although those are in the past), and it takes self-confident and worldly people like Patrick and Sam to get him to open up. If there's any flaw in his performance, it's that he's so low-key that it takes a while to form an emotional connection with him.
Ezra Miller, whom I first saw in the lame "City Island" and was positively chilling in "We Need to Talk About Kevin," is terrific as the free-spirited Patrick. He's an odd duck and he knows it. More importantly, though, he doesn't care. He marches to his own beat and that serves him fine. But behind the pranks and joking around, he's got some of his own conflicts.
Based on her work in the Harry Potter movies, I never thought Emma Watson could act. She was stiff as a board as Hermione, and her performances barely improved as the franchise went on. But the role of Sam appears to have been written for her. Watson is natural, speaking the words with ease. Her acting is low-key, but impressive. I fell in love with Sam as Charlie did.
This film is Stephen Chbosky's own. He wrote the novel, the screenplay and directed it. It's rare that an author with little directorial experience (he did one film back in 1995, but I don't know how many people actually saw it) is given the opportunity to direct their own film, but the results speak for themselves. This is about as honest and real as a studio like Summit Entertainment will allow it to be. I should also mention that it is one of the few movies that made me choke up a little (I can count the number of movies that have done that on one hand).
Note: The film was given a PG-13 rating on appeal, and although it's one of the more racier PG-13 movies (the film contains a fair amount of drug use and deals with heavy issues such as suicide and molestation, although not explicitly), I think the MPAA made the right move in this case, had it not been for the utterance of the term "faggot." Ten years ago, this wouldn't have been so shocking in a movie for teens, but times have changed. The term has become as hurtful and wounding as the "n" word. I know a lot of straight people who are greatly discomforted when it is merely said (and in this film, it's meant as an insult). If a film gets an R rating for two instances of the word "fuck," then a film that uses the "f" word even once should get an R rating.
Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Stone, Ezra Miller, Dylan McDermott, Kate Walsh, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Rudd, Mae Whitman, Joan Cusack
Rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Material, Drug and Alcohol Use, Sexual Content including References and a Fight--All Involving Teens
Originally, I thought "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was going to be an emo movie about teen angst (not the kind of movie that's my cup of tea, if you haven't already guessed). That's certainly the vibe I got from hearing about it. I suppose it is about teen angst and the characters are all off the beaten path, but it's not emo.
Charlie (Lerman) is just starting his freshman year in high school. It's not going well; he has barely walked through the door and he's already getting bullied. He's shy and quiet. A loner. That is until he gets the courage to start talking to the class clown, Patrick (Miller) at a football game. They become fast friends, and Charlie develops feelings for Patrick's stepsister, Sam. But having friends presents some new obstacles to navigate.
While the ins and outs of being in high school are broadened considerably, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is still much more perceptive than many high school films like "She's All That" or "Election" (one of the most overrated high school movies of all time after "Heathers"). On some level, we all know what it's like to feel alone in a sea of people who seem to have it all. This is what makes the film feel real.
The acting is effective. Logan Lerman is effective as Charlie. He's a shy and softspoken individual (due to a past trauma, he suffered from blackouts and flashbacks, although those are in the past), and it takes self-confident and worldly people like Patrick and Sam to get him to open up. If there's any flaw in his performance, it's that he's so low-key that it takes a while to form an emotional connection with him.
Ezra Miller, whom I first saw in the lame "City Island" and was positively chilling in "We Need to Talk About Kevin," is terrific as the free-spirited Patrick. He's an odd duck and he knows it. More importantly, though, he doesn't care. He marches to his own beat and that serves him fine. But behind the pranks and joking around, he's got some of his own conflicts.
Based on her work in the Harry Potter movies, I never thought Emma Watson could act. She was stiff as a board as Hermione, and her performances barely improved as the franchise went on. But the role of Sam appears to have been written for her. Watson is natural, speaking the words with ease. Her acting is low-key, but impressive. I fell in love with Sam as Charlie did.
This film is Stephen Chbosky's own. He wrote the novel, the screenplay and directed it. It's rare that an author with little directorial experience (he did one film back in 1995, but I don't know how many people actually saw it) is given the opportunity to direct their own film, but the results speak for themselves. This is about as honest and real as a studio like Summit Entertainment will allow it to be. I should also mention that it is one of the few movies that made me choke up a little (I can count the number of movies that have done that on one hand).
Note: The film was given a PG-13 rating on appeal, and although it's one of the more racier PG-13 movies (the film contains a fair amount of drug use and deals with heavy issues such as suicide and molestation, although not explicitly), I think the MPAA made the right move in this case, had it not been for the utterance of the term "faggot." Ten years ago, this wouldn't have been so shocking in a movie for teens, but times have changed. The term has become as hurtful and wounding as the "n" word. I know a lot of straight people who are greatly discomforted when it is merely said (and in this film, it's meant as an insult). If a film gets an R rating for two instances of the word "fuck," then a film that uses the "f" word even once should get an R rating.
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