More than just a coming of age movie

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2013)

Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller make this one of the best movies of 2012. There is so much more to the movie than the basic plot: a high school freshman (Charlie, played by Logan Lerman) who is dealing with the suicide of his best friend starts high school with no friends, and no social skills. At a school dance, where he stands against the wall watching, he forces himself to go out on to the dance floor when he sees an unconventional couple (Sam played by Emma Watson and Patrick played by Ezra Miller) dancing to their own beat, and joins them. From this brave step to join life around him, Charlie meets Sam and Patrick's friends, all of who are high school seniors and in their own social clique of "wallflowers". The other all-too-familiar high school cliques play a part in Charlie's demons, and when he has to say goodbye to his friends when they are all graduating and going on to college, his dark inner life crashes in on him. This story delves into all the issues young people face today while finding themselves and their path in life: their sexuality, falling in love, family issues. Charlie though has a darker past that he's buried so deep that he only remembers bits and pieces in flashes. It is when he talks with Sam about her past, all the while falling in love with her, that his own secrets start to push to the surface. Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller have proved themselves to be actors with a range of talents, and while Emma Watson of course is very well known from her Harry Potter movies, she shows here that she is more than Hermione Granger in every way. This is an excellent movie that I highly recommend.