REVIEW: THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

Critics reviewing "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," the teenage high school film have a distinct disadvantage by just writing it: they're not teenagers.  To fully relate to this film it helps to be currently enrolled in high school, and see some of the challenges that you face presented on the screen.  I have beef with what's presented in the film, but the good exceedingly outweighs the bad in this thoughtful, challenging movie, something the great John Hughes would have devised back in the day.

The douche tearing Charlie's book

The movie opens in with the not too familiar sounds of a typewriter click-clacking away, and from that beginning you realize this is going to be no ordinary film.  2012 films nowadays wouldn't dare throw in a typewriter, unless it was ironically vintage and you had a hipster with a cup of coffee in his hands and a Smart Phone in his pocket.  Though not explicitly stated, the film takes place around the early 90's, and don't quote me on this, but I don't believe they had cops in school.  I say this because I'm rather critical of what happens to Charlie, the film's main character.  In the first 15 minutes Charlie gets his copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" ripped from a senior and literally gets abducted from the hallway into the bathroom where a group of people beat him up to get his early written report.  I realize the school I reside in isn't exactly Cambridge, but I've never heard or seen anything to that severity ever occur.


So I wasn't thrilled with the bullying accuracy I saw portrayed on the screen, as it might give parents who see the movie the wrong idea.  But I have no idea what director/writer/author of the book it's based on Stephen Chbosky went through in high school.  That's a dream of mine, by the way, or really of every artists.  Unless the studio meddles with a few decisions, you have to admire that Chbosky's vision of "Wallflower" was totally under his control.  That's something so rare you see in Hollywood.  But minor criticisms aside, I loved "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."  Growing up from daycare to daycare, I didn't exactly develop social skills until 5th grade, and had gotten comfortable with my friends.  Then, through complications, I went to a middle school that was closest to home, and therefore left my pals behind.  Sixth grade was a blank slate, and I knew maybe three people going in.  I didn't become a social butterfly until seventh grade, and even now I'll have a few social anxieties (explaining maybe why I talk about movies on the internet instead of running track.)

I give you that dramatic back story because we can all relate to Logan Lerman's Charlie, and I could especially.  The first day of going back to high school is this giant mountain to climb especially due to lunch, not knowing where your friends are.  It feels like a miracle when you spot one, you feel that sense of victory like finding Waldo in those picture books.  Lerman totally redeems his misstep that was "Percy Jackson," though I hear the sequel's coming out next year, and Watson and Miller are completely top-notch.  Miller effectively plays a gay teenager without resorting to overly flamboyant, cliched stereotypes  and Watson, with a spot-on American accent radiates such subtle vulnerability and grace that you're mesmerized every time she's on screen, even when she's not the focus.

The trio form an unbreakable bond of quirky misfits, attending midnight screenings of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and what not, until complications get in the way, specifically when Charlie gives the wrong idea to Sam (Watson)'s friend Mary Elizabeth, Mae Whitman (who also gives a breakout performance, but will undoubtedly get overshadowed by the media favoring Watson) and he begins to date her.  Along with this is coping with his dead best friend, hiding Patrick's (Miller) secret affair, and of course, as any teenager knows, the daily tribulations of mundane high school.  I especially enjoyed the Homecoming scene, where the movie takes its name from Charlie standing uncomfortably to the side while Sam and Patrick perform an exuberantly well-done dance number.  I can't say this time I've ever been in Charlie's shoes, because the one positive attribution I've been dealt with is the ability to get down and dance.

Rudd's character felt like an afterthought

Other little nitpicks are the presence of Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott as Charlie's parents, which seem like one-dimensional characters who get little screen time.  McDermott was hilarious in this year's "The Campaign," and I feel he, and Paul Rudd as the cool English teacher Mr. Anderson who inspires Charlie, are wasted star power in this film.  I'm guessing the novel "Perks" probably emphasized Anderson's impact on Charlie. Besides those few things, find a theater currently screening "Perks" in its limited release and revel in the wonderful feeling of a movie that truly does make you feel youthful, in charge and infinite.

Rating: 3/4 stars (but my inner teenage girl would give it a 4)