Coming-of-Age Story of a Teenager Discovering his Place in the World

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2013)

Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a shy teenager without friends that has just joined the high-school. He misses his best friend, who had committed suicide, and he writes letters to an imaginary friend telling his feelings. Further, Charlie has a mental illness problem in his past. Soon Charlie befriends the veterans Patrick (Ezra Miller), who is gay, and his stepsister Sam (Emma Watson) and they become best friends. Charlie wants to be a writer and he also becomes the favorite student of his teacher of literature, Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd), who lends him books.
Sam and Patrick introduce Charlie to their friends and Charlie falls in love with Sam, but he does not have self-confidence to tell her. Charlie discovers a new world and feels happy with his friends,and he dates their common friend Mary Elizabeth (Mae Whitman). But when they end their relationship, Patrick asks Charlie to stay away from them for a while and soon he triggers his mental illness again. He goes to the hospital where a doctor finally discloses the origin of his problem.
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is a feel-good drama with a coming-of- age story of a teenager discovering his place in the world. The plot is not a conventional teen movie and Charlie, performed by the promising Logan Lerman, is a complex and timid teenager with traumatic past of sexual abuse and mental illness that finds love, friendship, sexuality, rejection and drugs while growing up. The young actors and actresses have great performances and Emma Watson is lovely and proves that can really act without the label of Hermione. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "As Vantagens de Ser Invisível" ("The Advantages of Being Invisible")