Movie Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"Based on the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a modern classic that captures the dizzying highs and crushing lows of growing up. Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a moving tale of love, loss, fear and hope-and the unforgettable friends that help us through life."

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It's very rare that a mind-blowingly good book gets adapted into a mind-blowingly good movie. Even rarer is the occurrence that said book/movie renders me speechless.

  The Perks of Being a Wallflower, book and movie, did just that.

This movie was perfect. Sure, I could get out my thesaurus and write a needlessly verbose description of its amazingness, but that sentence really does say it all. The actors were perfect, the character portrayals were spot-on, and, despite some scenes being taken out in the adaptation, the movie managed to stay true to the book. Granted, there were some deleted scenes that I wished they had included (especially the abortion scene with Charlie and his sister) but overall, this movie has really managed to retain the original essence of the book while simultaneously adding a new dimension to the story that made me fall even more in love with the characters.

 Let's start off with the cast because it was utterly flawless. Logan Lerman was the perfect Charlie. You can't even make an argument otherwise. Just no. Don't even. His portrayal was so good that I don't even know what to say. Lerman just embodied everything that was Charlie. His naiveté, his awkwardness, his turmoil of emotions, his desire to reach out and make a friend, everything was there. If anything, seeing Charlie as a living, breathing human instead of someone I imagined in my head made  his character all the more endearing. 

Emma Watson was exactly how I imagined Sam to be, but if I had to be honest, the one who really stole the show, aside from Logan Lerman, was Ezra Miller as Patrick.

OH. MY GOSH.
JUST- HE'S SO- I CAN'T EVEN-
I JUST LOVE HIM.
So much.

In the books, Patrick was an okay side character. I mean, I liked him, but mainly he was just there. It was Charlie that I really fell in love with, and that is why I absolutely love movie adaptations because in a movie you see more of the other characters. You notice their little quirks and laugh at their one-liners and you get more attached to them than you did while reading. Ezra Miller not only brought out Patrick's hilarious sense of humor and happy-go-lucky personality, he also did a phenomenal job showing Patrick's emotional downward spiral when his relationship with Brad went south. Miller's acting was just amazing....and it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes.

If I had to answer the book vs. movie question, I will have to say that I preferred the book. In general, I just found it to be more powerful. I admit that cried while watching the movie. Twice. But I usually tend to cry more often while watching something as opposed to reading it. All the same, this movie did touch me on an emotional level--I ached when the characters were hurting and I cheered when I saw Charlie making friends and participating.

All in all:

Here's my review of the book in case you want to read that too :)

Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Publication date: February 1, 1999
Publisher: Pocket Books

Rating: 5 stars

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Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. 

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix-tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. 

But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

"I just need to know that someone out there listens and understands and doesn't try to sleep with someone even if they could have. I need to know these people exist."

Dear friend,

To be honest, I have written and rewritten this review more times than I care to count. It was unbelievably hard to find the right words to write a review because this book left me utterly speechless. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age story that wasn't clichéd or hackneyed. Charlie, the main character, is a unique introvert who still manages to be very relatable. I loved this book, but the word love does not seem big enough to convey how much this book impacted me. No matter what I say, it feels inadequate in describing just how powerful this book actually was. But seeing as this is a book review blog, I suppose I should endeavor to try.

People think that the most powerful books are those that grip you from the very first page, the ones that make you feel like you're on a fast-paced roller coaster but, in fact, this is not true. The most powerful books are those you fall in love with unwittingly. Each word is like a stitch, slowly weaving itself into your heart until the story and its characters become a part of you.

I finished this book in one night which, believe me, was not my intention as I ended up going to sleep around 4 a.m.... and I wanted to go to sleep sooner, really I did! But Charlie's story had me enraptured, not because it was extremely exciting or action-packed but because I had fallen in love with this wallflower who loves books as much as I do and always gives gifts without expecting anything in return. Charlie became a real person for me and I had to keep reading to see if he was going to be alright.

The writing in this book is beautiful. It was not needlessly verbose or full of symbols and metaphors, it was honest and poignant. Charlie had a very distinct voice, naive at times but also observant and startlingly wise, which made him a very endearing character to me. His whole journey of self-discovery was filled with moments of sadness and humor and a ton of quotable quotes.

This may sound silly, but a part of me holds on to this belief that Charlie is a real person who exists somewhere out there in the real world. Who wrote these amazingly sincere letters. Who really touched me with his words. Like I said, it's a somewhat silly notion, but that's how compelling this book was. So, to fellow bookworms out there, I hope I've convinced you to read this book. And to Charlie, thank you.

Love always,
Joie