The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This book was a very big book for me. I read it as an eighth grader and completed it in just one day. I know, it's not a very big book, or a particuarly daunting one, writing style wise, but it's still the only book I ever read in one day. I related to this book more than I can say. I was a chubby, shy, unpopular kid and this book gave me hope that I would meet cool friends like Sam and Patrick who would make me feel loved and included, who I could share interests with and who would make me feel, finally, like I belonged. Of course, that never happened. High school was one long awful time for me. Surprise, surprise, there aren't kids like Sam and Patrick in Shithole, Pennsylvania. But still, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was still a very important part of my formative years.

The movie version was adapted and directed by Stephen Chbosky, who wrote the book. The story follows Charlie (Logan Lerman), who spent some time in a mental hospital and is now the outcast as he begins his freshman year. Half of the student body are terrified of the crazy kid, and the other half mock and tease him. Then he meets Patrick (Ezra Miller), a flamboyant senior who is outgoing and wonderful. He easily befriends Charlie and soon they are hanging out with Patrick's half sister Sam (Emma Watson), who Charlie crushes on hard. Charlie and Patrick are fun and they love the Smiths as much as Charlie and they are obsessed with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Charlie immediately feels included and accepted. Still, he struggles with his demons and his inner sadness.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is as fine a coming of age movie as I've ever seen. It's an excellent celebration of what it is to be a teenager, about you can feel infinite in those moments when you are with your friends and it feels like you are the only people in the entire world. Of course, Chbosky captures everything great about his book and it transfers so well to the screen. But all of this wouldn't work if he didn't cast the parts correctly. Luckily for him, they mostly are. Lerman is great as Charlie, combining shyness and subtlety to his performance. Ezra Miller absolutely kills it as Patrick. He is over the top brilliant and I wish this was more of an Oscar movie because he deserves to be recognized for his fearless, heartfelt performance. Paul Rudd has a small part as an inspirational English teacher. My only real problem with the performances was Emma Watson. I've never seen a Harry Potter movie in my life so I never saw Watson act in anything. Basically, I wasn't impressed. I don't find her to be a particularly mesmerizing actress. Still, when there are so many great things in this movie, I could overlook her flawed attempts. Ezra Miller and his perfection of a performance more than made up for it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is such a great movie, that I'm truly surprised I haven't heard more buzz about it. I read a good review in Entertainment Weekly and I heard some good things about it after the Toronto Film Festival, but no one is really talking about it they way they talked about, oh, let's say, Looper. Overall, it's a great movie about growing up, falling in love for the first time, and feeling infinite for just one moment in time.

Grade: A-