What was THAT all about really?

Rating: 2/10 (25 February 2013)

Where to begin? It didn't make sense. It didn't have laughs. It didn't make it clear which period it was set in. It didn't have character development - it merely had characters to whom things happened. It didn't have any understanding of the drug culture. Or the music culture. Or the technology of the day - whichever day it really is set in. OK, it must be the 80s, 90s because of the cassettes. But as a group they dressed so unlike any teenagers I have ever seen anywhere. And they don't know Bowie? Old music aficionados? It didn't make sense.
The school. It didn't ring true. All the pupils were stock characters. Don't get me started on the gay jock storyline. Cartoon land. As was the fight scene. As was much of the film. A few tender moments, but mostly stuff we've seen a hundred times before.
The acting was fine. Patrick's character annoyed me though. He seemed to have no depth, whereas Charlie was all depth for a very clichéd reason. I am still none the wiser as to why he wasn't sorted out at his first trip to hospital before the film began. You mean the psych doctors didn't probe far enough first time around? And once he lets it all out to his new smiling psychiatrist, he is instantly cured? Freud still lives? Oh please...
It didn't make sense. And what were the perks of being a wallflower anyway? Free pot brownies? Besides he wasn't a wallflower for about 95% of the movie. Oh, so the whole clique were wallflowers, misfits, outsiders? No they weren't. They were just like everyone else with around three good friends each, but in their case, dubious taste in music. I mean Eileen and Heroes? OK, I like Heroes, but so inappropriate for a bunch of youngsters seriously into retro. They think Something by the Beatles is 'out there'? Embarrassing musical clichés at every turn.
Emma Watson, you need to choose better directors and scripts or you'll end up glossed over. Take a leaf out of Jennifer Lawrence's playbook is my advice. Not sure why some here took her acting to task. She delivered. But with the lines she was given I shouldn't be surprised some didn't like her.
This film is a sorry mess that I was expecting much more from. I found myself finding fault with almost every scene. Don't like doing that. Perhaps it might work for kids who have had little movie experience, but wouldn't the music put them off? Why the high IMDb rating? It's a mystery to me.