"Let's Go Be Psychos Together"

Rating: 8/10 (31 March 2013)

THE PERKS of BEING a WALLFLOWER is extremely poignant, well-acted, and well-filmed. It begins, I think deliberately, with the usual clichés and stereotypes of high school existence: Charlie the shy little freshman getting his class copy of TO KILL a MOCKINGBIRD ripped up by a bullyish senior, Charlie sitting alone during the big prom, etc. It quickly evolves, however, into something much more realized. Emma Watson and Ezra Miller particularly shine as Charlie's new friends, found seemingly by accident (as they often are), and their entire weird artsy kids circle is SO immediately engrossing and believable.
Understandably, many comparisons have been made with THE BREAKFAST CLUB, and, though PERKS is also set in the age of cassette tapes and typewriters, it appeals to the heart in the same timeless way, making it another film that's likely to survive and be watched many years from now.
PERKS is not flawless. Some of the themes and details--e.g., elements such as sister Candace's tumultuous relationship with "Ponytail Derek," Charlie's abuse as a child at the hands of his now-deceased aunt, Charlie's mental illness--don't always interrelate or play significant roles in the story. Various details--e.g., while this is supposedly set in 1991-2, computers are still apparently unknown--are also out of whack. Yet, these factors apparently don't bother many others, and PERKS is a good enough film that even the imperfections serve to humanize and perhaps even make it better. The more I think about it, everything that goes on here IS quite relevant in simply showing the complexities of growing up and being human.