The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The history of film is littered with authors who try to adapt their own novels and fail. Generally speaking, authors should not direct movies based on their own stories. For years I heard rumors of a Perks of being a Wallflower adaptation and for years they were just that, rumors. However, once casting got underway the adaptation appeared inevitable. Author Stephen Chbosky had written the screenplay and was going to be directing his own adaptation and he was going to take R-Rated material and turn it into Pg-13 material. I truly believe adaptations have to be judged separately from the source material, but the PG-13 knowledge scared me. Plus, the book means so much to so many people at a very specific time in their lives, I was not sure how it would translate to film. The very epistolary nature of the novel did not seem like it could translate very well. Well, The Perks of being a Wallflower bucks all of those trends because it is fantastic.

Charlie( Logan Lerman) is a total loner entering high school. He eats lunch by himself and is as depressed as a teenager could possibly be. His favorite aunt died in a car crash, his best/only friend killed himself and Charlie himself had an unknown episode prior to the events of the film. His brother was a big time football star, his girlfriend is popular, but has a jerk for a boyfriend and Charlie's dad is not terribly understanding to his situation. he keeps to himself and spends most of his day wishing himself gone. That changes when he meets a pair of step-siblings: Patrick (Ezra Miller and Sam (Emma Watson). Patrick is a brash flamboyant class clown and Sam is a gorgeous, but damaged girl who immediately catches the eye of Charlie. Patrick and Sam help Charlie to come out of his shell. They give him friends, a purpose and help him laugh and be happy. The story unfolds as we get a, intimate look into the lives of misfit teenagers trying to find their place in the world, and the story is being told to a "friend" in a series of letters from Charlie. Charlie is trying to figure out why he is so sad. Why he has these flashes of memories and why he does, at times, nearly black out with rage or sadness.

The Perks of being of Wallflower left me a blubbering mess. For days I thought about how perfectly crafted it was, how wonderful the acting was and how easily Chbosky managed to adapt his story, but mostly I thought about all of the emotions I felt watching it. Patrick and Sam appear to have everything together, but their lives are just as messy and sad as Charlie's and the performances from Miller and Watson are simply stunning. Watson is a revelation in a stripped down very vulnerable performance of a character that could easily move into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Lerman's Charlie, though, is the reason this movie works so well. he makes Charlie a character we are endlessly rooting for. He is sweet, likable, wounded, funny, heart breaking and most of all, honest. This movie only works if the honesty of the characters shine through and it is a credit to Chbosky that he pulled amazingly honest performances from his trio of leads.

Charting one full school year, the film shows up every possible up and down you could imagine. We have love, heart break, holidays, warmth, distance, deep sadness, acceptance and mostly friendship. yes, this is a story about one young man realizing why he is damaged, realizing that the entirety of his memory betrayed him and that the reality of his life is so dark and sad that he has to black out just to forget it, but deep down it is about this great friendship. Patrick and Sam rely on each other, but they come to rely on Charlie as well. They love Charlie and Charlie loves them. What gets them through all of it is the friendship they share.

This film does not rely on you having read the source material. It may cause you to devour the source material afterwards, because it is an easy read, much like this is easy viewing. Chbosky does not have many directorial tricks up his sleeve. He allows the words, the characters and the emotions to speak for themselves. He had a great editor who could cut the flashback sequences in the perfect place, but he does not need any camera tricks because this is an intimate look at a slice of teenage life. He gives us tight shots and lets the actors do the rest. We laugh with them, we cry with them and we hope they find whatever they are looking for. We desire to feel infinite the way they do in those perfect moments. It is all made possible because of the stunning trio of performances. Miller is a star in the making. Watson shows she is definitely worthy of having an outstanding post Harry Potter movie career and Lerman really gives us a Charlie that we can all relate to no matter what our personal high school experience. I will be surprised if this film is not in my top 10 at the end of the year.