A lot more serious than I expected, a good study of teen angst.

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2013)

Just from the title I expected this to be a somewhat usual teen high school movie, and hoped for some interesting story line. I was surprised to find it to be a quite hard-hitting teen drama. The kids are mostly basically good kids, but many of them have some serious developmental issues.
The titular character is 20-ish Logan Lerman as Pittsburgh area high school freshman Charlie. He is a bright but quiet person, seemingly going to significant lengths to not stand out. He sought the "wallflower" status. He has never had a real girlfriend, and he has never kissed a girl on the lips.
One of the upperclassmen befriends Charlie, in a good performance by Ezra Miller as Patrick . But Patrick has a secret of sorts, although his inner circle know and accept him, he is a homosexual.
But more significant is Patrick's step-sister, played well by Emma Watson (of 'Harry Potter' fame) as Sam, who has had her own set of issues growing up, and has come to be a 'loose' girl. But Sam is graduating at the end of the school year and hopes to attend Penn State. She worries because her SAT scores aren't very good.
Charlie takes a liking to Sam right away, even with the difference (Freshman vs Senior) in their ages. (In real life both are the same age.) He offers to help her study for her SATs, and she gladly accepts. She likes Charlie a lot, even though she has a boyfriend in college.
The teacher that influences Charlie is Paul Rudd as Mr. Anderson who teaches English. Charlie reads a lot, and Mr Anderson gives him books.
The other key character, with a small but important role, is Melanie Lynskey as Charlie's Aunt Helen .
SPOILERS: Charlie's aunt Helen had died in a car accident when Charlie was young, he seems to have blamed himself because she went to buy a present for him. After that he has occasionally had spells where he blacked out, and has had some professional treatment. When he and Sam finally were having a romantic encounter, and she began to rub his leg in an erotic manner , a flashback showed that his Aunt Helen also did that, she had abused him sexually and told him not to tell. He had repressed that memory but now it was coming out. In the end it seemed that perhaps he and Sam were going to remain a couple, even though she was off to college.