I love a good coming of age story. The journey into adulthood/loss of "innocence" is one of those most compelling aspects of human life, and it's something we all go through in one way or another.
That said, a lot of high school movies suck. Possibly because they're often made by greedy, cynical adults who "just don't understand". High school movies tend to cast beautiful, tall, perfect actors in their late twenties as 17 year old kids. These films fall into two camps: movies where teens get wasted and have bizarrely tidy/softly lit sex; or movies where teens' lives are ruined by pregnancy/abortion/drugs/bullying/[insert cliche here] and that misery is played out in a dark avalanche of schadenfreude for the audience's entertainment and self-righteousness.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, directed and written by Stephen Chbosky (who also wrote the book, which I confess I've never read), is a rare teen movie that transcends its genre. There is still a whiff of "after school special" hovering around it, since the teens in this movie each have a laundry list of pretty awful problems to deal with. But even at its darkest, Wallflower never wallows into preachiness or melodrama. The film remains buoyant, genuine, and--most importantly--humane. A high school movie where the characters treat each other with kindness and care--but not in a totally phony way? That's a big deal.
In Wallflower, Logan Lerman plays Charlie, a gentle and shy high school freshman. He hopes to make some friends, or at least be allowed to eat lunch with his big sister and her friends, on the first day of school. Alas, the only friend Charlie makes is his English teacher (Paul Rudd), and he eats alone in the cafeteria. But Charlie isn't the terrified, wilting wallflower he initially seems. He gets up the courage to sit with the openly gay class clown--Patrick, played by Ezra Miller, who is pretty freaking awesome--during a football game. Patrick introduces Charlie to his stepsister, Sam (Emma Watson, in a wonderful post-Harry Potter performance). Sam and Patrick decide to take Charlie under their wing, like teen guardian angels. They take Charlie to parties where he experiments with mind-altering substances. They get him into The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which was also a rite of passage for me--albeit in freshman year of college). And Sam gives Charlie his first kiss as if it were a gift. "I want to make sure that the first person who kisses you loves you." she says.
The thing I liked about Wallflower is that it never seems fake or forced. One of the core messages of the movie and book--"We accept the love we think we deserve"--is passed from Charlie's English teacher to Charlie to Sam. And it's the kind of message that could easily be expressed in a sappy, shallow manner. But Chbosky handles this idea--that learning how to love yourself is imperative so you don't let others treat you like crap--sensitively and earnestly. And it's surprisingly deep. Because it's so true; and it's something many adults--let alone kids--struggle with.
I won't go too much into the drama in Wallflower. Much of it is typical teen drama (dating, mating, and relating). But there are some surprisingly dark issues explored. Patrick, Sam, and Charlie struggle with things that have been done to them or ways other people have treated them. All three characters were treated poorly by someone who proclaimed to love them. And they learn over the course of the movie that when someone who says they love you hands you shit on a silver platter, you have the agency to reject that shit. Which, of course, goes back to the theme: "we accept the love we think we deserve." They learn not to accept what other people hand them, while calling it love. Instead, they seek love among each other and in themselves.
My generation traffics in irony. Our motto is "If you can't say something sarcastic, say nothing at all. Especially on Facebook." And when you're surrounded by endless snark and cynicism, you forget how nice earnestness feels once in a while. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an earnest movie that catches you off guard with it's humanistic approach to high school, and life in general.
4 out of 5 stars
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