The Island of Misfit Toys

Rating: Null/10 (25 November 2019)

The setting is Pittsburgh. The time is around the millennium. Young Charlie Kelmeckis is entering high school not with a chip on his shoulder but with a hole in his soul. But rather than explore the vacuum in his life, the film veers away from the realities faced by Charlie into a ridiculous coming-of-age story ridden with clichés.
Time and again, credibility is lost with an attractive group of students that bond unconvincingly as outsiders. They call themselves "the island of misfit toys." But they are all so intelligent, dynamic, and smartly dressed that they never fit the profile of genuine outsiders, let alone the concept of the wallflower of the film's title.
The crucial background in Charlie's past is only hinted at until the truth is revealed at the very end of the film. Growing up, the little boy had a special bond with his Auntie Helen. But one winter's night as she was driving home after a visit with her precious nephew, Auntie Helen was not concentrating on her driving, and she was clocked by a truck bearing down on her from the left. In the unformed mind of seven-year-old Charlie, he felt like he was the cause of his auntie's fatal accident. But is there more to the story? Indeed there is! Charlie and Auntie Helen had their "own little secret."
Too many of the scenes in this film did not ring true to life. Would Charlie really be able to take on a foursome of football players in the school cafeteria? Would a senior as gorgeous as Sam really take an interest in a withdrawn freshman like Charlie? Would young Charlie even be invited and would he even be interested in attending the parties thrown by upperclassmen that he loathes? Would Charlie's English teacher really hand him a copy of his favorite book, which turns out to be J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"? Please!!!
The pacing of the film was laboriously slow with far too many subplots, miscellaneous characters, and under-developed relationships. Do we truly care about the relationship of Charlie's sister Candace with the abusive kid named "Ponytail"? Does it ring true that Mary Elizabeth is a Buddhist, yet she yearns to live in a high-priced home on Cape Cod? Does it matter that the "Goth" Alice shoplifts her jeans from the mall? The dialogue rarely rang true, and the major shortcoming was that the characters were simply not very likable.