If you were a fan of The Perks of Being a Wallflower novel by Stephen Chobsky, you will be pleasantly surprised with the quality of the newly adapted film. With a star-studded cast including actors such as We Need to Talk About Kevin’s Ezra Miller, Harry Potter’s Emma Watson, Vampire Diarie’s Nina Dobrev and many more, the movie had some serious talent to work with. Despite minor details, the movie consistently sticks with the plot of the book and created a picture that satisfies viewers.
The story is about a boy named Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, who is starting his first year of high school after an extremely difficult year in middle school when his best, and only, friend committed suicide, leaving him with questions, anxiety, and depression. The movie is narrated by Charlie, and the book is written in the form of letters from Charlie to an anonymous person. From the beginning, you can tell that Charlie is unique and struggles with being socially awkward. It is crucial to the storyline that the actor playing Charlie is awkward, almost to the point where the audience can’t bear to watch, and Logan Lerman gets the job done. Lerman was awkward, inquisitive and sweet enough for the audience to get attched.
During his first week of high school, he makes friends with two seniors: Patrick, played by Ezra Miller, and Sam, played by Emma Watson. Sam and Patrick are step siblings with their fair share of drama and baggage. Patrick is witty, charming, and energetic, and is always the life of the party. But when Patrick’s boyfriend refuses to come out, Patrick takes a dramatic downfall. Sam is kind, funny and beautiful. Soon after Charlie meets her, he falls in love with her. However, Sam is in love with a photographer named Craig, but knows that Charlie loves her. Even though it hurts Charlie to see Sam date someone else, he lets it go because all he wants is for her to be happy. Sam and Patrick take Charlie under their wings and introduce him to all of their friends where he finally begins to fit in. In the movie when we are first introduced to the characters of the film, their flamboyance and wittiness seems a little overpowering, and at some points, a little forced. As the movie progresses and you see how the characters act in contrast to the developing plot, you start to appreciate and understand the uniqueness of all of the characters and relate to each one of them. Charlie also makes friends with his Advanced English teacher, Mr. Anderson, who admires Charlie and recognizes his appreciation and talent in the literature department and encourages Charlie to think about writing in the future.
Charlie’s family doesn’t play as big of a role in the story as his friends do, and the few changes in the plot of the story have to do with extra information about Charlie’s family. Charlie is raised by his mother, played by Kate Walsh, and his father, played by Dylan McDermott. The one family member that Charlie feels understands him is his aunt Helen, played by Melanie Lynskey, who lives with his family after getting out of an abusive relationship but dies in a tragic car accident that continues to haunt Charlie throughout the story. In the movie there are a lot of flashback scenes that help people who haven’t read the book to understand the plot.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower has its ups and downs, along with a dramatic and shocking ending that tugs on every viewer’s heart. This is a difficult story that portrays teen angst and tells the story of a unique boy and the friends that change his life forever.
As a fan of the book, I was very excited to see this movie and I was pleased to find that it didn’t disappoint. The movie took few to no liberties in the plot line and was easy to follow. The actors were fantastic and held up the storyline well, portraying all of the characters as they seemed in the book and bringing them to life on screen. The actors did an amazing job with making their characters loveable and relatable at the same time. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a must-see movie and definitely one of my new all-time favorites.
