The Perks of Being a Wallflower has perhaps the most realistic touching of teen relationships depicted on film

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2013)

When one watches a movie about high school life, one doesn't always expect realism especially if the characters are nothing but stereotypes of jocks, cheerleaders, and nerds, or geeks, to use the more current term. But The Perks of Being a Wallflower, based on a popular novel whose author also wrote the screenplay and directed the film, seems to accurately capture what it was like during the late '80s/early '90s to be offbeat and withdrawn and to still manage to have some fun despite troubles with family, social conventions, and the discovery of one's sexuality during the painful adolescent phase. The young people picked to play the main parts are all good at what they did here, but Emma Watson-previously best known as Hermione in the Harry Potter series-is really a standout as the troubled-but-determined Senior named Sam whose friendship with the lead Freshman character named Charlie (Logan Lerman) is perhaps the most touching of the relationships depicted here. I really loved the way things happened in this movie, so on that note, I highly recommend The Perks of Being a Wallflower.