"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" Review

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2013)

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is a film about living life and not letting fear bind you. There also so many more underlining themes and messages within the film, such as lying, being more involved, loyalty, and so much more. It also deals with the complications of high school and the needing to fit in. It felt a lot of these themes are handled well, but the film tends to gloss over some of it. While not a big problem, it would just allow more depth to the story.
The writing in the film is fairly strong. Like I said it handles a lot of themes, but again the film tends to gloss over some tiny things that could have made it better. For example, early on in the film the character talks about a friend he recently lost, which causes him to become so introverted, but we don't get any real back story. On the other hand the three main characters are fairly well developed and they truly make the film. The directing is good and I like the ambiance that is created. We get a good sense of high school and the life of a teenager. A really great thing the director manages to accomplish is making us feel what the main character is feeling. When he's shy, we're shy, when he's awkward, we feel awkward, and when he's happy, we feel his happiness.
The characters and acting are what makes this movie so good. Logan Lerman as Charlie is the awkward teenager with a troubled past. Logan does a good job of capturing the insecurities the character feels, He has little twitches and subtle body language that speaks volumes about the character. I really like how we see this character gradually changes and opens up. Emma Watson as Sam is the girl with the bad rep that's trying to reinvent herself. She's kind of loud at first, but when we pull away her facade we get a girl that really cares and needs some guidance. Ezra Miller as Patrick is the loud gay friend at least on the surface. As we pull back his carefree attitude we see just how much trouble he has as well. The thing about the characters in this movie is that they all have more depth to them. We learn more about them and fall in love with them.
Overall "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," is a pretty good film with a positive message. The writing is fairly strong, but I just wish that they would have gone more in depth with certain issues. However, the characters are likable and well performed. I give it a very high 4/5, good story with strong characters, but it just needed to go deeper into its themes.