Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Lynskey, Nina Dobrev, Paul Rudd, Joan Cusack
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars
With Oscar-watching, toward the beginning of January, you sometimes feel like you're on autopilot. You don't know quite yet who will be nominated for each category, but you can feel the pressure mounting to scoop up as many contenders in as many categories as you possibly can stomach. You sit through those random acting possibilities, those dry films that you've been avoiding because you'd never normally see them, that blockbuster sequel to a film that you didn't really like in the first place but feel you need to view because you're a completist (or OCD).And most of the time, this checklisting (new word, patent-pending), doesn't result in much more than a longer list of films you saw this year-you feel proud during the Academy Awards ceremony when someone asks "has anyone seen here seen that?" and you answer in the affirmative, but these are not memorable movies, ones that you're so glad you shelled out three bucks for at the cheap theater because it has the audacity to have a DVD release date two weeks after the nominations announcement. But sometimes, you see a truly special movie, one that you know instantly was worth driving forty minutes to the only remote suburb still showing the film, and are so glad that you got to experience it with strangers in the dark instead of randomly two years later when it finally pops to the top of your Netflix queue. If you hadn't already guessed yet, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of these movies.
(Spoilers abound, and really, unless you've read the book, you cannot learn too little about this movie-it's best when it catches you by surprise) You'd be forgiven for thinking "huh, what, John, you're crazy!" The guy who wrote the atrocious film adaptation of Rent decided to put Percy Jackson, Hermione Granger, Tilda Swinton's psycho son, and one of Ramona Flowers' evil exes into one movie about high school made a film worthy of 5-stars, and two paragraphs worth of build-up?!? While, the jury may be out on the crazy question, it's not on this movie, and the answer is, yes, it is that good.
The film tells the tale of high school, but unlike almost every other high school movie you've ever seen, which was largely about finding that one perfect soulmate in home room that somehow looks like an Abercrombie model (seriously-who went to school with a guy that looked like Jake Ryan, and why didn't they tell me when I was seventeen so that I could transfer), this is about your high school experience-those awkward moments that as an adult you can hardly stomach to think about, and about the imperfect group of friends that you searched for and were so thankful to have, faults and all. Our hero in the film is Charlie (Lerman), a boy who has lived in a mental hospital (though that's not apparent at the outset of the film), who has a family that walks around on eggshells with him since a breakdown, and is resigned to slouch and quietly wander through school without any hope of a friend. As the film progresses, though, a bit of courage (a wonderful scene where he slowly inches toward the only openly gay kid named Patrick (Miller) in his shop class, in hopes of befriending him), lands him in a group that includes the effervescent Patrick, his kooky and ridiculously beautiful sister Sam (Watson), and a host of others, that, for you Scott Pilgrim fanatics (you know who you are, and I'll initiate the secret handshake later), include Young Neil and Roxy Richter, and now I must watch that movie tonight (SOOOO GOOD!!!).
Anyway, back to a more realistic young adult experience-slowly, we get to see the stunningly real, not-at-all-sugar-coated experiences of these three and the adults that surround them, and you begin to understand their fractured, but longing lives. You learn that Patrick is dating a football player whose father is a massive bigot and beats his son when he learns that he has a boyfriend, and that Charlie's older sister is with a hippie boyfriend who hits her, and that Sam was the victim of sexual abuse at the hand's of her father's boss when she was eleven. And when you think you've got everything figured out, Charlie, our trusted wallflower of a narrator, throws a sucker punch at us-his beloved aunt, whom we know died when Charlie was very young and who haunts Charlie's memories, also molested her nephew and he blames himself for her death, and has never told his parents what happened to him. It's a jaw-dropper of a scene, one that I didn't see coming at all, and one that throws the entire film into such a whir the director thankfully does a quick flashback to the clues.
The film's screenplay has gotten most of the attention, and there's a lot to that. Despite the fact that Chbosky, both the director and the writer, was also the novelist behind the film, it doesn't have any of the stilted "let's-keep-in-everything-from-the-book" sort of moments that tend to mar literary adaptations, particularly celebrated young adult novels. While I haven't read the book to know if he sticks to the story, I always say that doesn't matter as long as the film flows, and it does. The screenplay and actors work so well together, it's as if character and actor meld onscreen. I loved all of the little touches that Chbosky sets in the script and every actor (whether main or ancillary) takes advantage-think about the glance of absolute terror on Charlie's face when he wants to break up with Mary Elizabeth (for all the focus on first kisses in movies, there is far too little of an equally memorable moment in our romantic coming-of-age: the first time you have to break-up with someone), or the grin on Dylan McDermott's face when he hands his son a $50 bill when he asks for $30 to impress a girl, or the look of sheer horror and complete lack of cool on Nina Dobrev's face when she tells her friend to call 911 to save her brother's life, even if she refuses to sit with him in the lunchroom-these are the moments that you cherish in a film, and the moments that you hearken back to when you remember them, and Perks is brimming with these little nuggets.
While the script is the film's only shot to make it into Oscar's good graces, that doesn't mean there aren't other superb aspects to the film, in particular, the main trio. Like Chbosky, I didn't go into this film with a high opinion of Ezra Miller, whom I was not a fan of in We Need to Talk About Kevin (a film I had a lot of issues with, and one of the big ones was his broad, formulaic performance). Here, though, he sings onscreen-an actor finely attuned to his character's many moments of confidence and the few, sheltered ones of insecurity. Emma Watson, who is of course the biggest star of the three, shows that Hermione Granger has skills, and is serene as the object-of-Charlie's-desires. I loved the way that the film rarely commented on, but clearly was influenced by, everyone's draw to her and her ethereal beauty and magnetism. Charlie's obviously in love with her, but everyone is struck by her, and Watson plays her with such great mood swings and well-worn masks. I loved her as Hermione, but I was never quite certain what'd she do next. This performance makes me think she'll be just fine.
Finally, there's Logan Lerman, our titular character, and the film's biggest unknown, at least from a talent-standpoint. This will be a known from now on, however. Lerman's performance is a home run-I cannot begin to describe all of the wonderful layers that he brings to this seemingly simple, but increasingly complex young man. Lerman's best moments are when he is desperate or searching for validation. Think of the scene where he saunters out on the dance floor toward Patrick and Sam, not sure if they'll still acknowledge him. Or when Patrick kisses Charlie, the film gives perhaps the most honest moment I've ever seen in a gay/straight friendship-Charlie lets it happen, and instead of recoiling or getting awkward, reassures a sobbing, apologizing Patrick that its going to be all right, without even a second of judgment or straight guy-posturing. Seriously-I feel like I should go out and rewatch Lerman's other films just to see if I was missing something, or if this is a new (and very welcome) change.
The movie has so many great moments (how good is Joan Cusack in that one scene, or how riveting is Melanie Lynskey or am I the only person who cannot remember the last time Paul Rudd felt this welcome onscreen), but I shall give you the chance to crow if you so choose. What did you think of Perks? Did you agree that the three leads are hitting new highs in their young careers? And what film that you went into expecting an "ehh" did you come out with a "holy cow?"
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