Last week I reviewed To The Moon, a beautifully underplayed and subtle game that moved me to tears and compelled me to recommend it to anyone I could make listen. This week I'm reviewing a movie that the internet has been banging on about for ages and that is desperately trying to touch and inspire everyone with all the subtlety of an brooding teenager writing suicide poetry in blood. Yes this week it's The Perks of Being a Wallflower that's wandered unknowingly into my dungeon and I plan to show it just how little love I "feel it deserves". But before we dive in I just want to make it absolutely clear that I'm reviewing the movie and not the book. It should also be noted that I don't give a flying fuck about the book and all predictable attempts to convince me that the book is superior or that the movie "missed the point" will be met with contempt and rejection. Or to put it in terms you might better understand "in this moment, I swear the amount I don't fucking care is infinite." Now on with the show.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a 'coming of age' movie by the producers of Juno, who are still as desperate as ever to get audiences everywhere to like their taste in music. We get it guys, you like Sonic Youth. Congratulations on being so alternative. It stars Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and oh my fucking god Emma Watson. Speaking as the only person on planet Earth who is largely indifferent to Emma Watson and has no strong desire to fuck, marry or be her best friend I must admit that she is, along with the other leads, good in her role. Although I did find it unashamedly fan-servicing when her character first appears on screen in this sudden, out-of-place close up as if the whole cast and crew are preparing the audience to squeal with Emma Watson-adoring glee. It's like the scene was shot for her entrance to get a standing ovation. I bet they fucking wanted that.
The plot follows a freshman at high school called Charlie who's only friend recently committed suicide and who has mental issues stemming from a big dark secret that you'll have to wait until the end of the movie to discover. Although quite frankly given how heavy handed the plot is at times I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to figure it out long before then. But anyway Charlie ends up in the company of two senior year students who befriend him and open him up to the world. Their names escape me but all you need to know is that one a playful, quirky gay man and the other is the gentle love interest who is trying to escape her past of sexual promiscuity and feelings of worthlessness. From the get go the movie is packed with personalized mix-tapes that express true feelings, the sharing of vinyls and books, heads being poked out of moving vehicles and drugs being taken to indicate that a character is being tipped over the edge. All the while the musical soundtrack butts in with all the producers favorite songs to cry or feel whimsical to.
Which brings me to one of my two main criticisms of this movie. It's never, ever even remotely subtle. For a movie that dishes out enough pretentious quotes to crash tumblr it certainly expresses no faith in its audiences ability to pick up on things. "Oh I didn't tell you this before but those two have a history of fighting over guys." "Oh by the way I lost my virginity at 11 to my dads work colleague and I've fucked a lot of people since then." "Oh I love you. Let's kiss and then ignore our feelings for the rest of the movie like idiots." Fucking chill out movie. And this brings me onto my other criticism which is that all the meaty issues within the movie are often only touched upon. Heaven forbid you take some time away from celebrating how cool it is to be a hipster and actually develop your key plot points and relationships. For example towards the end of the movie there's a scene Charlie shares with his English teacher that I realized I was supposed to care deeply about but just didn't because this apparently deep and respectful relationship was largely developed off-screen. I even know from the moment that fucking English teacher was introduced that he was going to be an inspirational friend and father figure and I still managed to be surprised when it actually happened. It's kinda funny how it's always the English teacher that ends up adopting this role isn't it? Nobody ever gets all "Dead Poets Society" for their woodwork teacher do they? But I guess in this plot it makes sense because Charlie wants to be a writer. Oh did I not mention that? Well that's because I fucking forgot. Want to take a guess why I forgot? Because it's barely ever mentioned.
What might surprise you deeply at this point is that I actually don't hate The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I kinda thought it was fine and probably would have gone a little easier on it if it wasn't so bloody impressed with itself. At it's core The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a good movie that deserved to be better but was let down by the mishandling of important plot points and the appeals it makes to the egos of its target audience. For a movie that says "You see things.You keep quiet about them. And you understand." it sure tries its hardest to make sure you understand things by shouting them at you.
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