I’ve been talking to my buddy Greg briefly, and I asked him straight up whether or not I should continue with posts similar to my October Sky (1999) review. His simple response was “yes please.” So for Greg, and myself and anyone else that needs a little inspiration, every Monday, I’ll have an inspirational, hope full, feel-good movie up on here that I reviewed. These posts will be marked with “Inspirational Movie in the title” and I.M.M. In the preface under the title. Many of them smaller, independent films. Some of them, directed by people who went on to do much larger scale films. All with a message that rings true even today, those inspirational, feel-good, look for to better yourself type of films. I have a whole pile of movies I go to no matter what emotion I’m feeling, but theres some that even after watching 25 or 30 times, I still love because of the feeling and passion I get out of watching them. So that is what I’d like to discuss today and review, so that maybe other people can find solace in these films as I do.
Perks of Being a Wallflower is a film I discovered late in my life, but the message is something that goes layers deep. I discovered this movie about 2 years ago, I remember seeing the cover and hearing good things about it, so I bought it. I remember getting home and immediately watching it, and right after, I ran to chapters to buy the book. Thats power, this movie hit me on so many levels. I was so impressed, that evening I decided to introduce my mother to it. This never happens, to watch a movie twice in 24 hours, is something I’ve never really done. You know the movie hits you hard when… And even now I still watch it frequently.
This movie is about a freshman (Logan Lerman) who becomes friends with two seniors (Ezra Miller and Emma Watson) who introduce him to different elements of life.
Perks of Being a Wallflower is directed and written by Stephen Chbosky. He is also the author of the book. I thought this was extremely interesting, it is not usually the author of the book who choses to helm his own adaptation to film. He directed one film prior to this, called The Four Corners of Nowhere (1995) and he has 3 projects coming up, Wonder (2017) and Santa is Real and While We’re Young which both don’t have release dates/years but I’m very excited all the same. I thought that this movie was extremely well-written and well directed. All the characters you can associate with on some level, depending on how you’re feeling, or what you’re thinking about. You would think that this was Chbosky’s 9th film, and he was a seasoned pro. The direction and writing was just excellent.
Theres many well known actors in this movie, but this was my first introduction to the actor Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller. Logan Lerman also starred in The Butterfly Effect (2004), 3:10 To Yuma (2007), Gamer (2007), Stuck In Love (2012), Noah (2014), Fury (2014), and Indignation (2016). If you’ve been following my blog, I previously reviewed Indignation earlier this year. If you haven’t, not a problem the link is here ( https://andrewmoviespot.wordpress.com/2016/08/18/indignation-review/ ). I saw other movies that Lerman did, but it wasn’t unit this movie where I really took notice and actually learned his name. You could say I’m a fan, I actually saw Indignation, solely because he was in it. I really like his acting, he seems just real. I was extremely impressed with him, and have been in every movie that he’s been in that i’ve seen so far. Ezra Miller on the other hand, I’ve only seen this movie he’s done. He was also in We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), Trainwreck (2015), Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) and Suicide Squad (2016). And soon he will also be in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Justice League (2017), and The Flash (2018). I thought Miller did an excellent job in this movie, he was great as the comic relief, but he was also extremely fantastic when he had to be serious. I was impressed how he could go from being down right hilarious to being serious and full of heart.
The last of the main actors in this movie, everybody has definitely heard of, even if you’ve never seen her movies, you know her name – Emma Watson. For those who may have been living under a rock for the past 15 years. Emma Watson was Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series (2001-2011), My Week With Marilyn (2011), The Bling Ring (2013), This Is The End (2013), Noah (2014), and Regression (2015). She is a wonderful actress and i’m quickly finding myself watching movies solely because she was in it, she was actually the reason I wanted to see this movie, I didn’t know what the movie was about, but I thought Emma Watson was always wonderful. Perks of Being a Wallflower was no different and this is easily the best Emma Watson film and my favourite Emma Watson film, no question.
The always wonderful Paul Rudd plays Mr. Anderson in this movie (and no he’s not Neo from the Matrix). I thought for the amount of screen time that he had, that he was a wonderful addition to the cast of this, and added something special.
I don’t want to ruin anything from this movie, but definitely give it a go, its really wonderful and original experience. It touches on so many different subjects and theres a wonderful Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) reference.
This movie is one of my go to’s. No matter what emotion I’m feeling at the time I watch it, I can always find solace in one of the characters in how they feel and their emotions. Theres a lot of really good lines in this movie as well that I find myself quoting to myself or to other people. Its just taught me a lot, in such a weird way. You don’t really learn things about yourself from movies, but this movie has something special attached to it. I feel like I’m a better person for watching this movie, and maybe thats why its one of my go to’s for inspiration or for hope. If you’ve never seen this movie, or never even heard of this movie, I implore you to check it out, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. You never know, maybe this will become one of your favourites as it has mine. Maybe you’ll watch it twice in 24 hours, who knows? But feel infinite and give this movie a go. This movie changed my life a little bit, perhaps it’ll change yours a little bit too.
Perks of Being A Wallflower is a lovely story with a message that transcends so many levels. My Final review is 5/5
Until Next Monday!
-Andrew