Movie Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Charlie does not want to be popular or fashionable.  He doesn't want to be on his high school team or be even be well-liked.  All Charlie wants to do is find his place in the world - a group of people who will accept him for who he.  But when you are starting high school, that's a lot to ask for. 

Perks is one of my absolute all time favorite books, so I really wanted the movie to be everything the book was.  It exceeded all my expectations.  Actor, Logan Lerman, did amazing job bringing Charlie's fragile sense of self to life.  He was able to capture the tentativeness and the vulnerabilty of the character's every moment in a way that I have never seen even grown actors able to portray. 

Emma Watson as Sam was breathtaking.  Even though the story is told through Charlie's eyes, making Sam the perfect manic pixie dream girl, Watson's portrayal of her grounded the character.  Yes, we still had the teenager that stood in the tunnel with the wind blowing through her hair, but we also felt the weight of how Sam's past decisions were determining her choices in friends and her relationship with Charlie.

Finally, I loved the setting - Pittsburg, PA in the 1990s.  Usually, when I watch movies, they tell you the date, but Perks is supposed to be of the times.  Everything is conveyed by sight - the hair, the plaid, the angsty emo rock music, the old cordless phones and baggy clothes.  For people like me, who were there, it was like going back in time.  It was genuine.

I could go on and on about this movie - how much I loved Patrick and Paul Rudd, but I will spare you.  It's amazing and everyone should see it.