"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is an excellent movie that I enjoyed from beginning to end and it is one of my favorite movies of 2012, which was a great year for movies.
Charlie (played by Logan Lerman) is a shy high school freshman to be who is very nervous & anxious about entering high school. He has a hard time making friends, but he's an intelligent kid who forms a bond with his English teacher (Mr. Anderson, nicely played by Paul Rudd). He is an aspiring writer himself and Mr. Anderson recognizes his literary skills right away. Charlie eventually manages to become friends with 2 seniors who happen to be step-siblings, Sam (played by Emma Watson) & Patrick (played by Ezra Miller). They begin spending significant time together & become very close friends and Charlie starts to feel more than friendship feelings for Sam even though he forms a relationship with another girl from the group. You can guess how well that winds up working out! Charlie's relationship with his dead aunt Helen becomes a focal point of the story once his feelings for Sam start getting stronger. I will stop here, as I need to remain spoiler-free!
I believe this movie is set in the early 90s because none of these kids have cell phones, they still make mixed tapes (not CDs or playlists on thumb drives) and nobody mentions Facebook. High school was a little simpler back then without the influences of social media, etc. But it still was not easy and Charlie has some growing pains adjusting to his new life as a high schooler. His new friends do make this easier as they form a wonderful friendship. This movie does a great job of portraying these challenges in touching, heart-warming fashion. And it shows how much fun this time can be as well.
I really enjoyed the use of music in this movie. The usage of the songs "Come on Eileen" & Air Supply's "I'm All Out of Love" stood out in particular, but the usage of David Bowie's "Heroes" was outstanding & fun. And even though we never hear The Beatles "Something", it plays a critical role in the movie and winds up being one of the best gifts I've ever seen given out in a movie.
The young actors in this movie give great performances, especially Lerman as Charlie and Watson as Sam. Watson in no way resembles Hermione and I believe that's a very good thing. And I liked Miller's portrayal of Patrick because I had seen him previously in "We Need to Talk About Kevin" which is a movie I didn't particularly enjoy...
This is a wonderful movie that portrays high school life & growing up very well and I really liked it...8.5/10 stars
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