Not any writer has quite analyzed teen angst as well as John Hughes, but Chbosky comes pretty close.
Meet Charlie (Logan Lerman), a young freshman outsider who has to deal with his own inner demons of the past, depression, and loneliness, and the death of his best friend. Charlie is extremely nervous for his first day of high school, and doesn’t want any old nice teacher to be the only friend he makes. He encounters two fellow outcasts, Sam (Emma Watson) and her hysterical step brother Patrick (Ezra Miller). They take him under their wings, show him lessons of love, pain, friendship, belonging, and overcome being a complete wallflower.
Stephen Chbosky directs and adapts his own novel for the big screen. And he does it quite well. The cast really fits each character, and their performances are awesome for such a young cast.
There are some really cool visuals, like when one of the main characters is on drugs. The writing is brilliant through and through. One can sense that “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is set in the 1990s (according to the film’s IMDb trivia page, it’s set during the 1991-92 school year) because of all the vinyl records, wardrobe, mix tapes and not CDs, the typewriter (some of you may not have even heard of this stuff..) and the older music. It’s a perfect example of a film that offers a great atmosphere, and one that the viewer can fall head over heels in love with.
For the majority of people – and high schoolers especially – it’s a film that is easy to relate to. Everyone feels out of place at some point in their lives, don’t they? A lot of the characters are easily relatable; and they are all substantially, and utterly effectively, developed. They all have great depth, and each have some sort of inner demons. When Charlie finally shakes off his inner cloak [feeling]of invisibility (I don’t think it’s a spoiler, it’s obvious he would – and I just had to do the “Harry Potter” pun), it’s enough to fill you with happiness. Just remember though, these loner kids have dreams too, just like you or me.
Emma Watson and Logan Lerman in a scene from “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (Summit Entertainment, 2012).
There is a great sense of poignancy, and can easily cause the viewer to get choked up in several areas because of sensitive subjects. The immediacy is grand, and the comedy is also hysterical. The funniest character is definitely Patrick. There’s a lot of romance mixed in: Logan Lerman’s character was kissing people left, right, and centre. The mix of genres is beautiful, and the film can definitely make the viewer feel extremely emotional at one point, and fall-off-their-chair-laughing at the next minute. That’s always an aspect of films that I truly admire.
The depiction of the high school world feels a little off, because I know I’ve never seen a high school quite so brutal. Granted, the majority of high school films depict it in that fashion, so I can’t hold it against this film for following that cliché.
The three primary actors were extremely impressive: Logan Lerman proved he’s an incredible actor; Emma Watson proved she’s destined for greatness (like you couldn’t already tell, she has great star power); and Ezra Miller proved that he’s a diverse actor that can take on a great list of roles, from the terrifying Kevin in “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” to a flamboyant character like Patrick.
Dylan McDermott, Kate Walsh, Johnny Simmons, Nina Dobrev, Mae Whitman, Erin Wilhelmi, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Rudd and Joan Cusack also co-star in this film.
The profound and unique analysis of teen angst is accurate, brilliantly touching, and heartbreakingly relevant. Thinking back, there isn’t a flaw visible in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” The performances are great, the story is awesome, and the atmosphere it offers is perfect. It has a cool use of visuals and flashbacks when they are there. It also has a nice use of voice-over narration from Charlie in some scenes. This is a film that I didn’t want to end, and I can’t wait to watch it again (and I didn’t even mind being choked up half the freaking time!). That’s one heck of a definition for an enjoyable experience. It’s one of my favourite experiences and atmospheres of 2012 – it’s a must-see. It’s a fine classic of 2012 that can define a generation as well as John Hughes could.
It deserves to be seen; so get off the couch, grab a few friends – but if you don’t have any, it’s okay to be a wallflower* – and go see this movie!
*For those of you who do not know, a wallflower is just slang for a loner. I certainly didn’t know what it meant before I saw this, so hopefully this may be helpful information.
– by Daniel Prinn
