There are thousands of movies that come out every year, and it is amazing how many of them just seem to slip through the cracks to become forgotten and how many of them end up on the big screen only to be absolutely god-awful.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those that seems to have slipped through the cracks.
I don't know how it was that I found out about it, but I found it online in a random list, possibly on IMDB, and decided that I had to see it. Mostly because of Emma Watson, because of my dire need to see her in something that wasn't Harry Potter, to see her grown up and acting in something older, something mature, something different.
So, when I was sitting at home on a Monday night with nothing to do, I decided to give it a try. And from the first scene, I was hooked to it. Something about the main character spoke to me - the social awkwardness, the affinity with music and the deep, passionate love of writing that takes over his life and that he uses to tell his story.
Bring to him friends who are even more socially unaccepted than he is, but have found acceptance with each other, and you have the group that I spent time with in high school. Without the drugs, of course, but the basic dynamic is just about right.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a romance, it is a drama, it is a mystery and it is, at times, a comedy. It is something that melds together the music and dress sense of the early 90s to provide a testament to the time period and a beautiful story of love and coming of age.
I would highly recommend the movie to anyone who was born in the 80s and who has a love of the music from the 90s, who grew up in the 90s and anyone who found their first love in high school, unrequited or otherwise. To be perfectly honest though, I would recommend this movie to absolutely anyone because I just adored it.
