Perks of Being a Wallflower is what I wish more "teenage" movies were like, instead of what we got with our generation of ludicrous love stories and impromptu choreographed dances at proms. And although I enjoyed some of the John Hughes era, I never really connected with his movies (sorry!).
Perks is set in the early 90s and brings back all the nostalgia of homemade mix tapes and vinyl records without treading (too much) into self-satisfied hipster territory. A few lines did manage to irk me -- "Catcher in the Rye is my favorite book" "oh it sounds so much better on vinyl" and "they're actually playing GOOD music!!" But maybe I'm too jaded by our current hipster fad.
The strength of this movie is that it doesn't let itself be limited by the genre. Although it's about high-schoolers figuring their lives out, it has some truly poignant moments that can resonate with us -- either because it's something we experienced in the past, or it's something we relate with even now.
The cast is especially strong here -- Ezra Miller was fantastic (I'd love to see his turn as Kevin in We Need to Talk About Kevin). Logan Lehrman plays the perfect wide-eyed, awkward but not cringe-worthy protagonist. He's tragic in a way, but not flaunting it. And Emma Watson is pitch-perfect -- charming, beautiful, and truly crush-worthy in this role. There are a few times when I saw Hermione (and heard the british accent), but overall she was lovely.
The strength of this movie is that it doesn't let itself be limited by the genre. Although it's about high-schoolers figuring their lives out, it has some truly poignant moments that can resonate with us -- either because it's something we experienced in the past, or it's something we relate with even now.
The cast is especially strong here -- Ezra Miller was fantastic (I'd love to see his turn as Kevin in We Need to Talk About Kevin). Logan Lehrman plays the perfect wide-eyed, awkward but not cringe-worthy protagonist. He's tragic in a way, but not flaunting it. And Emma Watson is pitch-perfect -- charming, beautiful, and truly crush-worthy in this role. There are a few times when I saw Hermione (and heard the british accent), but overall she was lovely.
The director and the screenplay was by the author of the book...so you can imagine how the movie fully realized the meaning of the original text. Stephen Chbosky doesn't have many movies under his belt, but he was probably helped along by the sure-footed cast. He also shot a few scenes in his hometown, which is exactly what he had envisioned as he was writing the book.
There were a few missteps for me along the way in terms of the plot. And although one tragedy is built up as the reason for Charlie's (the protagonist) reticence, we're left at the end with another jumble of tragedies that are the makeup of his character. But why does a person need a tragedy at all to be a wallflower? What about those of us who were naturally awkward or trying to find our way without the excuse of a misfortune? The book does a better job of making it clear that we all struggle in life and our problems are not to blame for our character. The movie, not so much.