Perks of Being a Wallflower

Rating: 9/10 (25 September 2014)

From book to big screen, Perk of Being a Wallflower is another classic example of producers and directors perfectly capturing a plot and bringing it to life. With so much emotion throughout the movie, there is never a dull moment. Whether you're laughing, crying, or on the edge of your seat, you will not regret seeing this coming of age movie that is sure to become a classic.
The main character in this film is named Charlie, who is played by Logan Lerman. This in itself may be considered a difficult task, because Logan must play a freshman in high school, who is depressed, suicidal, and love struck by a fellow student—a senior—named Sam. Lerman perfectly captures this portrayal, not only with his facial expressions, but with his tone as well. He goes from the sad and depressing voice we hear when he is by himself or writing a letter to his 'friend', to the shy and nervous voice we hear when he is around Sam and his other friends.
A lot of it is not just the acting, but also what the actors are saying. There are so many deep thoughts and conversations captured in this film, and I felt as though I was included in many of these conversations. The actors not only made me believe what they were saying, but they made me feel it—like when Charlie so nonchalantly comments about his best friend who committed suicide—it felt real. Although some people may see him as the crazy freshman who spent time in a mental institute, we know from his conversations with his 'friend' that he is very intellectual and he is trying to get better.
Charlie has more emotions than anyone in this whole movie, and I can tell this just by what he says and how he says it. There is a scene where Charlie is in the school cafeteria when he suddenly spots his friend Patrick being beat up. We see a short clip of Charlie raising his fist to punch a guy in the face, then it cuts to everyone staring at Charlie, who now has a bruised hand. Before he walks away, Charlie calmly and firmly says 'If you touch my friends again, I'll blind you'. Even though he has not spoken to them in weeks, this may be one of the most powerful moments in the film.
There aren't very many places that we see the characters multiple times in the movie, except Charlie in his bedroom. Otherwise we can see our stars either at a restaurant, at a house party, in the cafeteria, wood shop class, football stadium, etc There are so many different sets, but each one contributes something new to the movie. As far as originality goes, the only movies I have ever seen about typical high schoolers—doing drugs, going to parties, having sex—have all just done nothing but criticize it. This movie is able to accurately capture the real struggles and pressures of a stereotypical high school experience. We know that not every student goes through these problems, but through this film we are almost able to experience that without feeling like we are being lectured that it is such a bad thing, and that we will go to hell if any of that stuff happens in our life.
We must not let the fear of mainstream high school sitcoms cloud our willingness to see this one. As quoted by Urban Dictionary, 'wallflower' is defined as "A type of loner. Often a very interesting person if someone talks to them." So just from the title of the movie, you can tell that Charlie will not just be bandwagoning his way through freshman year, and the rest of high school.