One of the toughest period in someone’s life is finding their own identity during their teen years. Going to a new school and having to find new friends, creating a new “safe group” you can hang out with can be difficult, you find a place you can belong to.
Charlie (Logan Lerman) is one of those kids having trouble with belonging somewhere. He had a hard time at his previous school because of something which happened to him in his past and for which he went into therapy. A new school means a fresh start for him, but it’s hard to know who you will be able to trust. He eventually becomes friends with Patrick (Ezra Miller, who shows he’s got quite an acting range if you compare this performance with We Need to Talk About Kevin) and his friends including Sam (Emma Watson). It doesn’t take long before he is included in the group and slowly finds out that he isn’t the only one with issues.
Most will see this movie as the first opportunity for Emma Watson to prove herself outside of the Harry Potter franchise and I think she does show here that she’s a good actress (I must admit I haven’t seen the last couple of Potter movies, so I only know how she acted when she was a lot younger). But she isn’t the only one worth noting as the whole cast was really strong, almost reminding me of movies like the Breakfast Club.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a movie I wasn’t expecting much of going in (have not read the book), but it was a very pleasant surprise. To me it offers the perfect bland of comedy and drama without ever feeling unrealistic. This could be the story of a real group of teenage friends exploring their first love, insecurities, dark sides and friendships.
Breakfast Club, really? I will give a look see based on that endorsement, but those are hard shoes to fill. Anxious to see if Emma Watson can break out of the mold Harry Potter in.
Yeah, it has similar themes and the interactions are a bit the same too. Emma Watson was great!
I am looking forward to this. 🙂
Check out if you can 🙂
Loved this film. The cast were superb and the story had so many levels that it stayed with me for a long time after I saw it. It’s on my list of books to read now.
Yeah, it was a very nice surprise to me. I don’t read many books, so will skip that one.
Great review. Really looking forward to this. Hope it opens here soon because it was supposed to open like a month ago and it didn’t.
Thanks Fernando, hope it will do so soon.
Nice write up. I haven’t actually seen The Breakfast Club but from what i’ve seen it seems along the same kind of lines. If you liked the film so much, I recommend checking the book out. You know the ending now, of course, but it’s still pretty interesting.
Thanks Terry. The Breakfast Club is not a masterpiece, but it is an interesting watch. I don’t read many books, so I’ll probably skip doing that for this one. If I read it’s usually science related…
Agreed! Great review. We ended up giving it the same score essentially. I wasn’t sure what to expect on this one and ended up liking it so much. Watson was great and she isn’t the only one worthy of laud.
Glad you enjoyed this one so much
Cool T! No, the whole cast did a great job.
Good review Nostra. One of my favorites of the year just because of how emotionally heartfelt and sweet it was with it’s premise. I will admit, it’s definitely a better watch if you have just gotten out of high-school and look back on all of the days you used to spend, just waiting for the weekend to come as soon as possible.
Thanks. It’s been a long time since I came out of high school, but it shows so many recognisable things in such a great way.
When I reviewed this, I noted that it was the biggest surprise of the year for me. I thought it was fantastic. I also mentioned the brat pack while writing. Will it fill those shoes? Probably not. But in decades void of heartfelt coming-of-age stories, this one moves in the right direction.
I can imagine that. It did do a great job telling some interesting coming of ages stories.
I really liked this film, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s not overly original in concept, but it is delivered so well that you can’t help but love it. I think it was a bit nostalgic in nature, and that had some bearing on why I really enjoyed it.
I think it’s a combination of great performances, heartfelt emotions and recognisable situations.
This was a wonderful movie, and very faithful to the book. Loved them both! This was one of my high-scorers (in both book and movie reviews), too.
Very nice review.
Thanks Erin!
Great review Nostra! Faithful adaptations are rare and Perks translated really well to the big screen. The great music helped too 🙂
Thanks Jade 🙂 I’ve heard from a lot of people that it was a very good adaptation.
I’m looking forward to this one. Almost a perfect score, that’s very good. I also want to see how Ezra Miller perform this time. Nice review, Nostra!
Yeah, it was a nice surprise and one you should check out when you can, I’m sure you’ll be impressed!
This is definitely on my radar to see. Sounds good. I’m also interested to see how Emma Watson gets on in a role that isn’t Hermione Granger!
Good to hear Dan, hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
I think it helped Emma Watson has gone to school in the US, her accent was flawless. Brit actors playing Americans often have dodgy distracting accents, not so in this film, at least nothing off that I noticed. I think she has the most promising future of the Harry Potter kids.