Not as morose as I anticipated, good

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2016)

This movie could have gone into the pretentious dark style that film artists creates to entertain themselves if not for Stephen Chbosky, the writer of the original book and director of the film. He intentionally hide Charlie's dark hallucinations from the film, like the scenes depicted in Black Swan. Although Charlie is a little melancholy and psychologically deranged, we get to witness all those brightness and merriness in his life. The film uses little contrast, light and warm hues and fluent changes between camera angles to shape the film into a beautiful and sentimental recollection. This is a teenage movie for teenagers, and adults that remember what it is like to be teenagers.
I can't tell you how glad I am to see Emma Watson casted as Samantha Dutton, Ezra Miiler as Patrick and Logan Lerman as Charlie. These three leading actors, along with all other side roles, are all gorgeous looking. They have the mature, sensational atmosphere that fits right into the film. Their performances convince me that they really deserves better spouses, and they totally deserve each other. It broke my heart when Sam said her first kiss was taken away by her dad's boss. I wonder what Sam's dad's reaction will be if he knows this molest. It traumatizes Sam and forces her always to give up the guys of her rank and search for jerks to dissipate her loneliness. I am constantly furiously thumping my chest when she kisses Bob, whose mustaches and sluggish figure make him look like a loser.
My favorite scene is the the dining hall brawl. That sadness is well depicted through Patrick's quivering voice and Brad's equivalent expression. He had to start the fight to prove to the school that he is not a "faggot", that he is different from Patrick. But poor Patrick loves Brad from the bottom of his heart. Eventually, they can't be a couple anymore until the United States declared it legal in 2014. But it brings out the most loyal part of Charlie. This part of storyboarding is classic, the background noises gradually climbs to climax with the starting of the chaos and violence, and is retracted to silence when the camera turns to the shocked crowd, the bullies on the floor, and Charlie's red knuckles. The emotional tension is even bigger than directly showing Charlie hitting the bullies(which was shown in the end). The wallflower walks off the wall and flings his fist onto the jerks that bully his friend, this is so cool.
I learned from the trivia column that Stephen originally shot a lot of scenes containing teenage sex and violence scenes. I doubt the version I saw cut some more of them, so I don't understand what Aunt Helen ever did to Charlie to pause him while he is making out with Sam. The line said "Let's keep it a secret between us." suggests sex, which logically explains why Charlie's parents are so shocked and pained when the therapist informed them of Charlie's past, but he said to Sam that Aunt Helen was his "favorite person". Candace signals her friend to call the police because Charlie has suicide intentions? But suicide intentions suggest depression, and depressed people don't see horrifying images, which is categorized under schizophrenia. This inconsistency bugs me whenever I am reminded of the film.
But anyway, this is the best teenage movie I see after Breakfast Club and Mean Girls. Thanks, Stephen.