Review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) by Stephen S — 22 May 2014

Solid film. Wish that this had come out when I was younger so I could have had it as kind of a guide to the tempestuous years of high school. Any teenager can relate to the lessons taught in this film (except for the Rocky Horror Picture Show stuff, which was really fucking weird).

The story is relatively interesting, and the characters grow on you surprisingly quickly. The messages sent by the film are important and clear. The only real issue that I had with this movie was the ending (SPOILERS) involving Charlie's aunt.

The film just basically glosses over the most depressing part of the story like it was close to nothing, just a time when Charlie lost it for a bit. She nearly ruined his life, but she was so fucked up mentally and do desperately in need of help, implied by the movie to some extent that she was being abused, either physically or sexually, and so she took it out on Charlie.

Even though she becomes a monster, she didn't have anyone around to help her out, so in the end, to some extent, it wasn't even her fault, so it's hard to hate her. Her death was almost merciful compared to her torturous existence.

Plus Charlie ends up finding out that the person he loved and respected above almost all others, a pillar of his life, isn't who he thinks she was, and that she nearly ruined his life. But the film barely talks about this, and leaves a surprisingly upbeat film with a much darker and depressing ending segment.

The film doesn't end after this revelation, of course, it has a couple of scenes later to wrap the film up, but the gravity of Charlie's Aunt's actions completely overshadow this. The viewer is probably still stunned until the ending credits roll.

So this film would've been amazing if it had handled the ending better. As is, it just remains a great, very likable and watchable film.