“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a film adapted from a modern-classic novel written by Stephen Chbosky. Not only wrote the novel, Chbosky also adapted it into a screenplay as well as directed it. As a novel, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” became more popular after some school libraries banned it for some sexual and gay-positive topic it raised. Some may think that it was an exaggeration, because although “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” does contain sexual topic, it didn’t explicitly described. As a film? Well, I guess “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” was one of the closest film to the youngsters.

“Wallflower” is a common term to describe some kinds of people who avoid being in a crowd or  social events and enjoy doing things alone. Charlie (played by Logan Lerman) is the wallflower. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” started on the first day of Charlie as a freshman in a high school. Charlie was hard to make friends, although his English teacher, Mr. Anderson (played by Paul Rudd), found that he was a smart student. In a football game, Charlie met his seniors, Patrick (played by Ezra Miller) and his step-sister Sam (played by Emma Watson), and had a nice introduction. Soon they got more attached, as Charlie became less shy and realized that he started to love Sam.

"We are infinite" - Charlie

Watching “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” will settle you to disagree with the ban action of the book. Well, maybe there are some correlations to homosexuality (Patrick was described as a flamboyant gay) mentioned, but regardless of that, this film is sweet and simple. As the first directorial work of Stephen Chbosky, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” may seem a little bit untidy and rushy, but it is forgiven for the nice screenplay it has. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” captured many cues of the high school memories without even beating around the bush (and it probably will deliver you back to your old memories, haha). Don’t be surprise if some parts of the story will remind you with some occurrences you had in your teens, analogously or for real. Attending parties, being in love, saying long goodbye, favouriting particular music, going out till late, giving presents, struggling with graduations and marks, achieving your aspirations, having your first kiss, being involved in a fight, up-and-down of a friendship... it’s very us. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” have concluded them all in a nicely-done, unpretentious way. More than that, it also tells us a good example of a true friendship. I guess “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is the right movie you could enjoy with your best friends to remark your friendship. Charlie, as an introvert boy, finally found his real world as a free-spirited teenager because of the help of Patrick and Sam. They helped Charlie to struggle with his past (about his only best friend who committed suicide and his aunt who died in a car accident) and enjoy his own life. Charlie helped Sam dealing with her SAT, while Patrick freely shared his problem with his boyfriend to Charlie. Some parts are heart-touching; actually there were many heart-warming moments—and if you watch it with your best friends, you’ll possibly get that “melting” moments.

Logan Lerman did a very good job. He could display fragility in the seemingly-okay Charlie. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” will mainly be filled with voice-overs of Charlie doing his “internal conversation” in his mind due to his introvert-ness (realize that: introverts spend most of their time talking to themselves instead of socializing). Meanwhile, attentions will also be addressed to Ezra Miller. He did claim that he’s a queer and that’s why I think he could naturally portray a supple, easy-going guy like Patrick. The way he did the girly theatrical show with Sam, it’s so... wow. The biggest problem, I think, is in Emma Watson. I don’t know, I just hard to see her portraying such a good-girl-gone-bad senior like Sam. When she told Charlie that she struggled with her SAT and said that she wished she learned well when she was still a freshman, it’s just hard for me to accept it because Emma Watson looks smart even from her outer look :D. Stop comparing her to Hermione Granger because in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” she proved that she was a totally different character. She had her chemistry with Logan Lerman, and it’s another good point.

If you really did watch it with your best friends, maybe each of you will say, “Don’t ever feel bothered telling me any problems you have, we could deal ‘em together” or something like that. I love the tunnel scene when Charlie screamed in his heart “We are infinite!” and I feel like I just wanna do the same thing with my best friends. Haha. The thing is, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is young, friendly, and heart-warming. It's very close to us. A good job from Stephen Chbosky. 

---

---

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER | COUNTRY USA YEAR 2012 RATING Rated PG-13 on appeal for mature thematic material, drug and alcohol use, sexual content including references, and a fight - all involving teens RUNTIME 102 min GENRE Drama, Romance CAST Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd, Mae Whitman WRITER Stephen Chbosky (screenplay and novel) DIRECTOR Stephen Chbosky IMDB RATING 8.3/10 (Top 250 #211) (to date) METACRITIC 67/100 (Generally Favorable) (to date) ROTTEN TOMATOES 85% (Certified Fresh) (to date) MORE INFO