The Perks of Being a Wallflower review

Charlie: I really wanna be a writer but I don't know what I'd write about. 
Sam: You can write about us. 
Patrick: Call it 'The slut and the falcon' make us solve crimes 

Director: Steven Chbosky
(2012)

2012 has been a surprisingly strong year for film. The brilliance has ranged from the explosive (The Dark Knight Rises), the clever (Looper) and the magical (Life of Pi). With such quantity in the quality of mainstream films, scores and scores of smaller, but no less entertaining films get pushed aside in cinema listings, unfairly overlooked. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of these films.

Perks focuses on Charlie (Logan Lerman) a troubled teenager who is about to go to a public school for the first time due to being homeschooled all his life. Through a letter for his anonymous friend he narrates his journey, offering insight to his mental condition and his feelings to how his life is unfolding. After a few days struggling being the new kid, Charlie befriends Patrick (Ezra Miller) and his half sister Sam (Emma Watson), 2 constantly quirky seniors who take him under their sheltering wing. Soon Charlie breaks free from his shell as he takes a journey to the end of his childhood that exposes who he truly is.

While Perks is most definitely a coming of age story, it’s not fuelled by adventure (the Goonies) or vast amounts of self discovery (Stand by Me). Yes, Charlie does find his place in the animal kingdom that is high school, but he adapts to fit his environment, spurred on by his need to feel normal. Despite his mental condition, Lerman makes him almost universally likable; everyone has moments of loneliness or longing while growing up. This urge to gain the respect of your peers is what Writer/Director Steven Chbosky channels constantly, a thematic choice that allows Charlie’s sometimes strange behaviour to have little impact on how relatable he is.

The trio of Lerman, Watson and Miller make up the core experience in Perks, and each is a perfect match for their characters. Watson is sublime in her first post Potter role as Sam, Charlie’s potential love interest and guide through his progression from near silent protagonist to eccentric socialite. She’s a sublime blend of dependable and seductive, although not without some serious baggage. Her brother Patrick is similar in many ways, his idiosyncratic lifestyle and warm demeanour is offset by his struggles with his hidden relationship with Brad, a fellow student with an urge to remain secret about his sexuality.

It’s in these more serious vibes that Perks suffers from its poor change in tone. One scene will consist of fun humour and engaging scenarios, only for child abuse and violent homophobia to rear their startling heads in the next. What's even more terrifying is how casually such themes are handled and the flip-flopping between styles is exceedingly uncomfortable at times. These dark moments are totally necessary, but are downplayed far too casually. The use of drugs fares much better, from a nervous Charlie eating a brownie at his first house party and getting stoned, winning him a great amount respect to doing LSD and falling asleep in the snow. Chbosky’s delicate comic touch works in the case of substance abuse but his attempts to brush other issues of so nonchalantly is detrimental to the quality of the film.

While it does tick most of the boxes of its genre, The Perks of Being a Wallflower never feels stale or derivative. There are enough jokes, relationships and chemistry between the 3 leads for the entirety of the film to work sufficiently. Chbosky’s handling of mature themes is haphazard at best and atrocious at worst, a flaw amplified considering he wrote the book the film is based upon. It may lack that powerful aura of youth that something like Stand by Me has, but that doesn’t stop Perks from being a hidden gem in a year of strong films.

7