About a year and a half ago, I was exposed to a young adult, epistolary novel written by Stephen Chbosky: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The novel is about an introverted high school freshman named Charlie (Logan Lerman), who is taken under the wings of two seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller) who introduce him to the real world. I quickly finished the book after I started reading it and I absolutely adored it. To this day, I still do. So, naturally, when I found out the book was being made into a movie, I was super excited.
After realizing long ago that Hollywood tends to butcher fantastic works of literature, as they are too lazy to come up with an original story, I tried not to get my hopes up too much. While I wanted the movie version of Perks to be good, I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment. However, this thought process quickly changed once the opening credits of the movie began. Chbosky was listed as the movie’s director and screenwriter, which I wasn’t aware of, and that immediately set my standards higher.
It’s very rare that an author has much of a role in turning their novel into a movie. Usually this is the reason why books get butchered when they are made into movies. However, having Chbosky direct and write the screenplay for the movie made the adaptation flawless.
For those who have read the book, the movie will definitely not disappoint. It’s clear that the author perfectly portrayed the vision he had for the book through the movie. I can honestly say that as I was watching the movie, I felt like I was reading the book. All of the actors that were casted were perfect for their roles. It’s almost as if Chbosky time traveled to 2012, and when he traveled back to write the novel in 1999, he based the characters off the movie actors. They certainly did justice to the novel’s characters that readers have come to love. Actually, he did justice to the entire book.
While I believe everyone should read the book before seeing a movie, as that’s always the best and more fun thing to do (I always like comparing how I envisioned everything to what it actually is). However, it’s a great movie regardless. The novel’s story is fantastic, and it’s just as fantastic as a movie. The movie is perfect for every differing type of moviegoer as it’s a wide range of genres. It’s funny, emotional, suspenseful and it certainly takes a toll on the heart. I’m not one to cry during movies (except during Marley and Me… That movie nearly broke my heart and put it through a paper shredder), but this movie had me on the verge. I also had goosebumps during the entire ending; and that doesn’t happen often.
The bottom line: go see The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It’s certainly worth the eight bucks that you would instead spend elsewhere.
