What's Hot? Movies.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

How. Cute.

Now I haven't read the book so I can't say whether or not this was a good book to screen adaption, but either way it was a great film. Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller are three of my favourite young actors and seeing them all onscreen together may have caused some sort of explosion in my mind. Not only are all three of them incredibly talented, but they're also sexy as. The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows Charlie, a social outcast, as he returns for his freshman year of high school. His best friend committed suicide a year ago, which he only admits when he gets unintentionally stoned, and he is now friendless and seen as a freak by his peers. Things start to get a little better for Charlie though as befriends Patrick and Sam, two step siblings, who take Charlie under their wing and try to integrate him into their friendship group when they realise that he has no other friends.
This story is intense. From the trailer I thought that this would be quite a heart warming coming of a age drama with some sort of deep message attached, but in fact it is a heartbreaking story that really hits home. There are quite a few twists and turns along the way and they're thrown at the audience, without warming which makes everything seem more traumatic. I can't tell you what sorts of themes are explored without revealing spoilers but I can tell you they're pretty shocking and you can't help but love Charlie as he's been through so much. There's also some romance in this film, but I don't think that's what most people would say they remember after watching this. Like I said above, I haven't read the books, but I didn't feel like anything was missing from this film or that there were any bits which weren't fully explained so even if the script hasn't strictly followed the book's plot, it still makes a great stand-alone film.
I haven't seen these three actors for a while so it was brilliant to see all of them on screen together. Emma Watson wasn't quite as impressive as I would've hoped, but perhaps it was not Emma Watson that let me down, but her character, Sam, who I didn't like as much as I thought I would. Also what is up with Emma Watson's American accent? It just sounds so wrong in this film! Ezra Miller more than made up for Emma Watson's strange accent as he is just so talented. In fact, I think I'm in love with him. He played his character perfectly and he ranged from being really intense, to really carefree. You can't help but love his character as he really tries to help Charlie and it reassures you that there are some really good people in this world. I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to like Logan Lerman in this film because I couldn't really imagine him playing a 'serious' role. He looks quite cute and playful and I'd much rather see him in a cheesy teen romance or the next Percy Jackson movie (which is coming out later this year!) than in a deep drama. To my surprise, he actually pulled his character off quite well. Charlie is such an intense character, it must've been quite hard to portray him but I think Logan Lerman did a really good job and I have so much more respect for him as an actor. Sometimes his accent and his way of speaking got on my nerves, but I think that was more about the character not the actor. Basically I just want to give Charlie a big hug.
I try to stay away from really emotional films such as this, but I had a feeling that this wasn't one I should miss. I'd discussed this film with a friend prior to watching it and he told me that it was a really sad film that had half his friends crying in the cinema. I had braced myself for tears, but I didn't actually cry whilst watching this. I was too stunned by the onscreen action and the trauma I imagined the characters to be feeling that I wasn't able to cry, only stare, in shock. There is a certain point in the film, and you'll know what I'm talking about if you've seen it, where you're so taken aback because something so out of the blue is revealed, you're not really sure what to do with yourself. What I love about this film is that despite the fact that I didn't think any of the characters or the plot were perfect, this film was still exceptionally good.This is definitely not something you want to watch when you're in a really happy mood, because it'll probably bring you right back down. I doubt this film is for everyone but if you're interested in a really good, but intense story, here's your film.
Anyone read the books and seen the movie? How similar are they?