The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012) Review

What starts out as a simple film about a boy trying to fit in, in high school, quickly turns into a drama about over-coming a traumatized past. Charlie, who early on mentions he was in a mental hospital for a while, starts his first year in high school and clearly doesn’t like it at all. In fact he hates it so much he has calculated how many days are left until he is done. Despite knowing a couple of people in the school he has trouble getting any friends. Eventually he befriends two seniors, Patrick and Sam, and is integrated into their clique. He quickly starts to develop a close bond with the two and as the film goes on we found out more and more about these people and why they have become outsiders.

Now, yes this is about a geeky kid in high school, but no this is by no means Superbad. While there are plenty of good laughs in this film, however it does take some very dark turns. The film deals with a lot of very serious issues, but it tackles them all elegantly. Luckily the young cast is great, considering they all have rather meaty roles. Logan Lerman is great as the very insecure and mentally unstable Charlie and he just makes you feel for him the second he steps on the screen. Having the loner kid doesn’t always work, as many take it too far and you just feel it’s their own fault for being a loner due to an often-unrealistic portrayal. Charlie, however, is impossible not to feel for. Emma Watson in her first big post-Hermione role also gets to show of as Sam. Like Charlie, Sam has a lot of issues that eventually see the light of day throughout the film. While Watson´s American accent sometimes misses the mark, the rest of her performance hits right on the spot. The film´s standout performance comes from Ezra Miller as Sam´s gay half-brother, Patrick. Not only does he bring most of the films big laughs, but he pretty much steal most of his scenes. He brings so much to every one of his scenes and he is just such a likable character. It is a character that easily could have become over the top however Ezra Millers handles the role with perfection. Though small I also think Paul Rudd´s performance as Charlie´s teacher is worth a mentioned as he also becomes a very likable character and his scenes with Charlie are all very good.

While the film may not be oozing with originality, it makes up for that in its characters. Rarely do we get characters so real in a high school film. For most of the film it feels more like we are there with these characters, who are our friends, experiencing all this together. There is no greater compliment to this film then how real it felt, how realistically the life of a teenager is portrayed. Sadly there a few of the very minor characters such as the sports jocks who are clichés however all the important characters are all very realistic. The unexpected realism and depth in the film makes it so relatable, not just for teenagers, but also for adults reflecting back on their teenage years. Even people who have always popular should be able to find something to relate to.

Once it became apparent that there was going to be a romance between Sam and Charlie I started worrying that the film might loose its realism a little, however it never did. The way their relationship was handled was just a real as everything else and never became clichéd or cheesy, which is hard to do.

This has to be one of the most real and honest films of the year. The film is full of great acting with a few, which in my opinion would be worthy of an Oscar nomination. It is a great accomplishment in giving us some truly amazing characters with chunks of depth. Some people may be put off by how dark and borderline depressing the films is at times, but it is still very funny at times and a very heart-warming tale about fitting in.

4.5/5