Heart-warming high-school drama with a sting in the tail

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2014)

Version I saw: In-flight movie (KLM)
Actors: 7/10
Plot/script: 7/10
Photography/visual style: 6/10
Music/score: 6/10
Overall: 7/10
All three stars of this movie - Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller - had baggage going into this film in terms of well-known roles in previous films. It is to their credit that they made me forget Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and We Need To Talk About Kevin. This is a well-judged high-school story that tackles a couple of sensitive issues with a good balance of cool distance and mawkishness, insight and introversion, witty dialogue and realistic awkwardness. Stephen Chbosky's direction (from his own book of the same name) is certainly not ostentatious, and this is probably wise. Too much camera tomfoolery would probably distract attention from what is really quite a personal, everyday drama. For my full review, see my independent film blog on Blogspot, Cinema Inferno: http://cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk