Just as Disappointing as the Novel

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2013)

This is a coming of age story for young adults, but amidst its "clever" and "surprisingly real" characters and storyline lies a dull, unexciting and redundant tale of a boy who just doesn't fit into life. The title is just about the only thing clever and original in this sad story. The problems that this boy faces, the insecurities that stand before him are what stand before everyone who has ever been sixteen.
Now I've read the book, and I didn't particularly enjoy it, but if you want to know this lame tale then read the book. The shallow characters are deftly portrayed in the movie, but you lose the essence of their character when they alter small yet certain things in their story lines. Emma Watson, for example, was an inspired choice to play Sam. But the Sam she gives you on screen isn't the same Sam in the book. The Sam in the book is wild and confusing, she leads you on and dumps you flat. She cares about Charlie but does not know how to go about it, tormenting the poor boy during his first year in High School, while also mentoring him and teaching him how to be himself. Whereas the Sam in the movie is uncertain and loving. She knows who she wants to be but not how to get there and she secretly loves and wants Charlie, never telling him as much though. She acted it beautifully but I felt that she wasn't encompassing her character. (to be fair that was probably the script)
The storyline was greatly reduced, cutting out what would have made the movie more original. In the book you get more of Charlie's sister and Brother. Heck in the book you even get more Patrick, who is by far the most lovable character. But more importantly you get more Mr. Anderson, a character who played a major role in the development of Charlie's character. In the film he's there and you get the feeling that he is important but you never really see why. You just see Paul Rudd playing a teacher in the background. The movie made the most important thing the uncertain love story between Sam and Charlie which only helps to escalate the feeling that you don't know what kind of "Coming of age" story you are watching. You are supposed to learn all of these life lessons while viewing a movie like this, but instead you are just hoping they get together (which in the book, they do not, so the movie lied to you. They gave you a Hollywood ending.)
The good points about the movie are mainly just who they casted for the roles. Not one person felt miscast, and every single person's performance was stunning. They really worked with what they were given, even if it wasn't as true to the book as it should have been. I give stand out props to Mae Whitman for her take on Mary Elizabeth. (You can really see the hurt in her face when she realizes that Charlie will never love her like he loves Sam in the scene when he gives Sam his books.) You wish you see more of her, and she quickly takes the place of your favorite character.
The movie is also somewhat less annoying than the book was (although not by much.) In the movie you are not stuck inside the mind of a whining fifteen year old Charlie. Instead you feel you are hanging out with him and his friends, not knowing (or caring) what weird and useless thoughts are running through his head. I expected to like the movie more than the novel because of the casting and because I figured you would get the book in its entirety in two, to two and a half hours instead of taking the week to read it. But you don't. You get a watered down hour and a half version of an already suffering tale. I guess it could have been worse, but it definitely could have been better. I give it 5 points for story and 1 bonus point for casting. 6/10 total, if you haven't read the book, you might even give it a 7.