Plot

Pittsburgh, the early ‘90s. Following a traumatic childhood incident, shy freshman Charlie (Lerman) has trouble fitting in and is anxious about starting high school. Things improve, however, once Charlie makes friends with the openly gay Patrick (Miller), his stepsister Sam (Watson) and their group of hip outsiders…

Review

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower isn’t one of those coming-of-age movies which captures the teenage high school experience exactly as it was. Instead, it’s one of those coming-of-age movies which captures the teenage high school experience as its adult author retroactively remembers it to be. While undoubtedly sweet and admirably sincere at times, Stephen Chbosky’s adaptation of his own novel feels somewhat dated in this respect. Full of precocious, self-aware teens who talk like adults, it’s not just that we’ve seen this done before (Dawson’s Creek was doing it better 15 years ago), it’s that it doesn’t feel particularly real or convincing here. For example, the movie strains to tell us how hip and pop culture savvy these ‘kids’ are (they listen to The Smiths, they give typewriters as presents, they make mixtapes), but yet they don’t recognise David Bowie’s impossibly iconic track Heroes? Come on.

That said, it should resonate with awkward teenager viewers or adolescents who consider themselves sophisticated, and the cast are likeable despite the stock archetypes they’re stuck with. While Emma ‘Hermione from Harry Potter’ Watson is distractingly miscast, Logan Lerman is endearing as Charlie (although it’s worth pointing out that he’s not an introvert as many reviews have claimed) and We Need To Talk About Kevin’s Ezra Miller is a stand-out. Indeed, the relationship his flamboyant and openly-gay Patrick has with a closeted footballer might well be the movie’s most interesting thread. Elsewhere, the soundtrack is great, and Heroes, despite the aforementioned credibility niggle, is a perfect tunnel song (that will make sense once you’ve seen the film) in what is undoubtedly a magic moment.

Verdict

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower isn’t one of those coming-of-age movies which captures the teenage high school experience exactly as it was. Instead, it’s one of those coming-of-age movies which captures the teenage high school experience as its adult author retroactively remembers it to be.