On the fifth day of Christmas KHM gave you another review courtesy of Robbie Fleming. This time Robbie takes us on a journey to 2012 in his first ever Retroview for KHM: Publishing!
Dir: Stephen Chbosky
Studio: Mr. Mudd Productions, Summit Entertainment (via Lionsgate)
Review by: Robbie Fleming
Back in my late teens, I discovered a coming-of-age drama film called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. On my first watch, I loved it for its engaging storyline, relatable characters, brilliant performances from the cast and fantastic soundtrack. After thinking about this film recently, I decided to rewatch it and bring you all this review. In 2024, does the film still hold up? Well, after my most recent watch of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, here are my thoughts on the film.
Telling the story of a teenager's experiences as a high school freshman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower has an interesting story that engages you throughout. The storytelling explores coming-of-age themes and childhood trauma without glorifying it. The film also has a relatable protagonist in Charlie as we have all experienced our first year at high school and have gone through at least one thing Charlie has been through whether its good or bad.
Logan Lerman’s performance as Charlie is one of his best and showcases his talent as an actor. Lerman was a rising star back when he was in this film and his performance continues his run of successful projects. The film also features a brilliant supporting cast featuring great performances from Emma Watson, Mae Whitman, Dylan McDermott, Joan Cusack, Nina Dobrev, and Paul Rudd who all bring their best to their film and shine whenever they're onscreen.
It’s a shame that Ezra Miller turned out to be a controversial figure and I get why their appearance in this might put you off the film. Whilst their performance is tolerable since they are playing a fun character, its hard to watch them in the film knowing about their toxic behaviour off-screen (plus it's hard to watch them in anything else when you watch him We Need to Talk about Kevin). Despite Miller’s appearance in this film, I can’t fault the other cast members who made this film stand out.
On a production level, Stephen Chbosky does a great job at directing the adaptation of his own novel as it feels like a strong decision to make a film from your own book so you can see how it translates to film better. I think another director could pull off a good version of this but with Chbosky helming his own adaptation, he manages to execute it well without looking pretentious or amateur.
I will be honest, I started thinking about this film when I heard “Don’t Dream It’s Over” in the Menendez brothers show on Netflix and it made me wanna rewatch it. I love the soundtrack in this film thanks to the way it uses Crowded House’s song and how it features some other great needle drops like Come On Eileen, All Out of Love & David Bowie’s Heroes. The soundtrack is the main reason I love this film and that's why it says iconic in my mind.
Overall, The Perks of Being a Wallflower I think holds up in terms of its writing, directing, soundtrack and most of the cast but I can see why I controversial actor’s appearance might not make this film for everyone. For me, it's a relatable coming-of-age drama that features a solid cast and an iconic soundtrack that I give a rating of an 8/10 and a 4 out of 5 stars.
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