This weekend I decided to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower after hearing a lot of great things about the book. Not knowing what was going to happen definitely created a much different experience than if I would have known what was coming. I was surprised to discover that the author himself, Stephen Chbosky, was also the director. The film stars Logan Lerman as Charlie, who was also in one of my favorite action movies Gamer (2009). At his side playing Patrick is Ezra Miller, who did an outstanding job, along with the always lovely Emma Watson as Sam. Once I got over the initial shock of hearing Emma Watson attempt an American accent (at times sounding slightly Irish?), I could totally get into the characters’ story. I also felt that there were a lot of dynamic and deep themes that many people can relate to integrated into the film that are not often seen onscreen. The rest of the gang consisted of the talents of Mae Whitman as Mary Elizabeth, Erin Wilhelmi as Alice, and Adam Hagenbuch as Bob. Paul Rudd also makes a small appearance as Charlie’s English teacher Mr. Anderson, who always has good advice and inspiring words.
Not only was the acting done beautifully but the music is phenomenal. Every song sounds like it was chosen with purpose, so I thought I’d share some of them with you to entice your musical tastebuds:
Could It Be Another Change? -The Samples
Come on Eileen -Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Tugboat -Galaxie 500
Temptation -New Order
Evensong -The Innocence Mission
Asleep -The Smiths
Low -Cracker
Teenage Riot -Sonic Youth
Dear God -XTC
Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drop -Cocteau Twins
Heroes -David Bowie
Other than that I would say I am now very much excited to read the book. As a witness to it, I think a theatre full of sniffles is a true testimony of a wonderful film that will literally make you laugh and cry a borderline publicly acceptable amount in two hours, but it’s worth it.
Casting credits to imdb.com
Photo credits to blogomatic3000.com