The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Film Review

Socially awkward teen Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines until two charismatic students become his mentors. Free-spirited Sam (Emma Watson) and her stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller) help Charlie discover the joys of friendship, first love, music, and more, while a teacher sparks Charlie’s dreams of becoming a writer. However, as his new friends prepare to leave for college, Charlie’s inner sadness threatens to shatter his newfound confidence.

As far back as I can remember, I have always been an introvert. If I’m ever sitting with a group of people who I’ve never met before, I always just sit there feeling incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. Luckily as an adult, you don’t find yourself in as many awkward situations as you did when you were in school, which is where I had it the worst, as I’m sure many of you reading this have as well. I was the type of kid who always stayed quiet no matter what. Not only in the classroom but also during lunch. I only ever hung out with two of my best friends all throughout elementary and middle school.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to make any new friends, I just didn’t really understand how because of how introverted I am. Being an introvert sucks and you can’t help but wish you were an extrovert – somebody that makes it look easy to create new friends and talk to people. For years, I felt like an outsider because so many of my fellow school students were sociable and I was that one weird quiet kid that barely spoke, and when I did, some people were shocked. One time I posted a video on Instagram of me talking and doing some funny challenge and one of my former middle school classmates commented “Wow, that’s your voice? I’ve never heard it before!”.

The first time I ever saw myself in a film character was in Logan Lerman’s Charlie Kelmeckis, who reminds me a lot of myself in so many ways. Ever since I first watched this film back in my final year of middle school I’ve always had a strong connection to it – not only is it a brilliantly written film and expertly directed, but it’s also one of the only coming-of-age films that truly brings me a sense of deep, unexplainable comfort. When I watch this movie, I can’t help but think about my own personal experiences and tie them into whatever Charlie is feeling in every scene.

This is one of the few coming-of-age movies where nothing is done up to make high school look really awesome. I’ve always hated films that essentially say “School doesn’t suck! All you have to do is make friends. It’s as simple as that”, because, no, it’s not as simple as that. If making friends was as simple as going up to somebody and saying “Want to be my friend?”, nobody in the world would be lonely.

Courtesy of Summit Entertainment

Introverts have it the worst in school because they always feel like the outsider looking in on everybody else having fun. It’s a similar feeling to when somebody tells a joke and the whole crowd starts laughing but you either didn’t hear it or you just didn’t understand it. For Charlie, school is rough. He loves to read (unlike his other classmates) and keeps quiet at school. He wishes he wasn’t so lonely and he wishes he had people to eat lunch with but his shy and awkward personality makes that extremely difficult for him.

One day while attending one of the school’s football games, Charlie sits down and is just getting ready to root for his team but when he looks around he sees a fellow classmate that actually treats him fairly well. He sees him as a person. Charlie manages to work up the courage to say hello and from that point on, Charlie and Patrick become incredibly close friends. He even introduces him to another new friend he will make named Sam who Charlie eventually develops a crush on.

And this is one of the most beautiful things about The Perks of Being a Wallflower – it shows you that once you get that first initial group of friends, you finally start to feel accepted and appreciated. You don’t need the whole school to like you as long as you have those two or three friends who always have your back and support you. And another thing I love is how they never try to make it so Charlie becomes more extroverted after befriending Patrick and Sam because that’s not typically how it works. Introverts are usually introverts for life, but this film lets us know that’s okay.

I’ve probably seen this film about five times now and yet each time I watch it feels like the first time ever, and that’s part of what makes great movies feel like magic. You already know what’s going to happen in the story and you know the ending but the journey, characters, dialogue, and messages are what make it feel like the first time all over again. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is almost ten years old, and I feel strongly that ten years from now, I’ll love it just as much.