Movie Review: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (2012)

We are infinite.

Rated PG-13

   Do you ever get that feeling that nothing in life could ever get in your way? High school freshman Charlie and his senior buddies Sam and Patrick know exactly how that feels. Based off of the bestselling novel, Stephen Chobsky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” depicts a more realistic side of adolescence that left the audience switching between laughter, tears, and confusion—which is, unsurprisingly, exactly how being a teenager should feel.

   Charlie is a wallflower, or a person who sits on the sidelines alone. His awkwardness that repels him from everyone else started when his friend committed suicide last year and his aunt was killed in a car crash almost seven years ago. Since then he’s been treated for depression. As he enters high school for the first time, it’s just like you’d expect it to be: cliques, bullies, insecurity. Eventually, though, he’s swept up by Patrick and his stepsister Sam, who lead him on an expedition that involves parties, drugs, and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

   But it’s not until after homecoming when Charlie and his new friends are driving home that he has this epiphany: Sam, while standing on the back of the truck as they drive through a tunnel, lifts her arms in the air, giving this sign of infinity. He loves her. He just doesn’t know how to show it.

   As for the book, it has received many good reviews. Publisher’s Weekly calls it “a trite, coming-of-age novel that could easily appeal to a [young adult] readership.” Similar to Charlie’s narration in the movie, it’s written in letter form with Charlie writing to an anonymous person he calls “friend.”

   However, Charlie mentions his suicidal friend Michael in the book more than he does in the film. Shouldn’t it be stressed as an important event that left Charlie alone and an outcast? The movie only brought it up once, but maybe it was because, as they say, less is more—and without that one, measly reference, Sam and Patrick probably wouldn’t have stuck by Charlie.

   On another note, every single character was played phenomenally. Logan Lerman shocked me at how well he played Charlie, and Ezra Miller is becoming a new rising star as Patrick. Now Emma Watson, who we all know as Hermione from “Harry Potter,” has taken on her new character with a surprising passion. If I could give the movie a rating, it would be five stars.

   As much as we feel alone in this world, our friends are always who we go to, even when we shove away our darkest secrets. But if we just let go of our worries for one second, then—and Charlie couldn’t have said it better—we are infinite.

   My Recommendation: ***** 5/5 Stars for The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson. IMDb Rating: 8.5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659337/

Watch the Trailer!