The Perks of Being a Wallflower

A deft mix of hipster, gay friendly teen comedy with a few surprising dramatic moments on top. A club of shelved super-smart teenagers who most of the time behave like adults, if not better, but that fits the overall feel good vibe of the film. You could say there's no pure essence of perfection, but there's no shit either, and hand on heart, when David Bowie comes on full blast in that one fateful scene, that's the fourth star. We are infinite. (27/02/2023)

The Perks of Being a blah blah blah is absolutely as much of a bummer as all the main characters. I mean, for all its attempts to be an independent, open-minded, and liberal piece of work, it's a shallow, bigoted, arrogant atrocity about people trying to stand out from the mainstream (the eccentric gay, the indie harlot, the quiet intellectual with a past, the goth, the junkie, the punk, etc.), all the while being taken from an uptight middle-class perspective. It's not just that the characters are extremely predictable, it's that the entire film degrades their attitudes into youthful horseplay, unable to distinguish them from the classic teenage schema. As such, there is no logical conflict of differing schools of thought, as the aforementioned are cemented by the fact that they are all different – which is such arrogant hogwash that is accentuated by the character of the main character's father – a hardened Republican who is addressed as "sir" by his own children. He's basically the main winner of the whole story, because exactly as he imagined, the kids mess around together, then it's revealed that his son was groped by his aunt (I would have liked a more open sequence here, because that's as far as the film takes my imagination), which actually makes sense as to why he occasionally goes wild, which solves it, and we have a chat about hockey at the dinner table after prayers. In other words, source material or no, the film in its sweet collectivist universe doesn't acknowledge straying from the mainstream, just pats itself on the back with an indulgent smile. And from this comes a lot of very hilarious moments, which include among my favorites the part when the father of a homosexual beats his son into a model hetero before dawn (they say he can't be cured, ha! there you go, liberals) or when the main character bursts into a room at a party where two gay men who have been dating for a long time are giving each other soft kisses on the nose _______ No one here knows how to act! It's sheer agony watching Emma Watson explain that she used to drink and fuck horribly and now she's trying to get rid of that past. Ezra Miller plays it like he's trying to end his acting career, and he's not alone in that. Once the film even starts to crawl into the Donnie Darko space, it's already done and can’t hope for more than 2 stars. I'm happy to banter with Stephen Chbosky sometimes, but I wouldn't buy his memories of his troubled youth even if he gave me money for it. Blech. (05/05/2013)

One of the most compelling films about the trials and tribulations of growing up I've ever seen. The central trio of Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller is absolutely perfect. All three of them play the roles as if they were tailor-made for them. And the soundtrack, dominated by David Bowie, feels like it's from a dreamland. It was really great! (90%) (28/09/2020)

I didn't believe that an American teenage advert for cotton candy could have any impact on me, but this one really packed a punch. It's just another variation on a theme that's been done hundreds of times, and as the closing credits roll we find that we haven't seen anything surprising or soul-deep, but the way this story about the importance of friendship is filmed won me over and delivered several wonderful scenes that I can't get out of my head – I thoroughly enjoyed all of the confrontations between Lerman and Emma Watson thanks to their natural acting style. A little great film, there is no other way to call it. 85% (15/07/2013)

A romantic film about teenagers, and mostly set in an American high school? You could rightly argue in advance that this is going to be the xth variation on a horribly overused concept where you mean virtually nothing unless you're the captain of the football team or head cheerleader. But this film is about something a little different. First of all, there are no such adventures (either football or cheerleading) at the forefront; the story itself focuses mainly on the lead character's feelings, and it must be said that it has its psychological depth as well. Charlie isn't so much withdrawn, reserved, and cautious because he's weird, but because something really happened to him in the past and he never quite came to terms with it. I like filmmakers who can work sensitively with characters without resorting to emotional pathos. In this case, it really is a maximally civil story whose qualities are supported by wonderfully natural performances. An independent film that is easy to get addicted to :-) (24/05/2014)