THE Perks of Being a Wallflower (USA 2012)

Published in Cinemarolling by Geraldine, on October 28, 2012

One of the year’s most successful literary adaptations.

Adapting books to screen can be a tricky business – as the recent crop of literary adaptations will testify (Great Expectations, On the Road, Cloud Atlas… need I go on?). But it is seldom that the author takes the sceptre in hand for his own work – which does not necessarily qualify him or her as a film maker – with certain notable exceptions (like Paul Haggis). Novelist Stephen Chbosky, however, whose 1999 best-seller THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER generated much heated dialogue at the time, was able to persuade the producers of Summit Entertainment and John Malkovich’s Mr. Mudd to let him take the reins. And a fine job he has made of his directorial debut, finally giving birth to a movie for the teen market that is intelligent, witty, and perceptive.

It is Charlie’s (Logan Lerman) first year in high school and he is plunged into the problems which every pupil seems fated to encounter: he is mobbed, excluded, mocked and bullied. All of which is to change when he meets and is befriended by senior-class siblings Sam (short for Samantha, played by Harry Potter’s Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller, who made a splash in last year’s Oscar nominated WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN). Flung head first into wild parties, hash brownies (soon to be followed by LSD), and “First Love” – all at once. A bit much for Charlie, 15 years old and struggling with his own mental health issues, which he keeps at bay by writing about his experiences – and those of his newfound friends – in letters to an anonymous pen pal. We later discover this to be his best friend Michael, who shot himself the year before.