Perks of Being a Wallflower
First thing to say is that the two male leads in this, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, are superb. Emma Watson puts in a solid enough performance aside from her American accent which slips occasionally but her character isn't huge leap from Hermione apart from a bit of wild dancing she wants to study hard and get into a good university.
Perks is the story of Charlie (Lerman) who is starting High School having been away for a spell in a mental health institute for reasons that are only gradually revealed.
He's intelligent, loves reading but is shy and an outsider. He makes friends with two fellow 'misfits' (why are misfits in films anything but?) Patrick who is gay and in a secret relationship (Miller) and Patrick's step-sister Sam (Watson) who's only character flaw seems to be that she always falls for men that treat her like dirt.
We follow the threesome and their wider group of misfits as Charlie slowly comes out of his shell, revealing some of his past and subsequently starts to live his life again. He falls in love with Sam but cannot tell her and falls into a relationship with another girl. But when that goes wrong it causes ructions in the group.
Perks is, on one level, a coming of age story as the group get ready for college, learn about themselves through loves and losses but it is Charlie's story and his emotional struggle with his past which raises it above the usual schmultz giving it depth. It makes for an amusing, warm, touching and at times moving film. Lerman manages to convey a sense of sadness and tragedy about Charlie from the outset, without saying very much.
And Miller is great to watch as the gregarious, extrovert, Patrick who likes to perform in a Rocky Horror tribute show complete with basque, stockings and suspenders. It's a role that is in complete contrast with that which he played in We Need to Talk About Kevin and a joy to see such a varied performance. Emma Watson could learn a thing or two about choice of parts.
It made me laugh out loud and cry so I'm going to give it 80%. On IMDb it's got 84% with a Metacritic score of 67% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 86% and 95% of site visitors have given it three and a half stars or higher.
Now the problem Liberal Arts has is timing. I saw it before Perks and enjoyed it but having subsequently seen Perks it sort of shrinks into the background.
It is a coming of age story on three levels. The protagonist is Jesse (Josh Radnor who also takes credit for writing and directing) a 30-something, bookish man who loved university. He's invited back to his old school by his old professor who is having a retirement party. While there he falls for student Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen).
*plot spoilers* Jesse has one foot firmly in the past, living through the joy he felt as a student studying through Zibby but when it comes to taking their relationship to the next level he gets a rude awakening. Zibby is mature for her age, hence her attraction to Jesse but when things don't go quite to plan she learns to act her age and enjoy what comes with it.
And the third coming of age thread is Professor Hoberg (Richard Jenkins) who is having a retirement-crisis, not sure of what he'll do when he no longer teaches.
It is all nicely acted and nicely done and pleasantly entertaining. There are a few of the usual cliches a but it avoids the biggest and also the usual cheep gag devices and is all the more satisfying for it. But pitted against the emotional depth of Perks of Being A Wallflower it feels a little bit shallow in the comparison.
So I'm going to give it 60%. On IMDb it has 70% with a Metacritic score of 55%. While on Rotten Tomatoes 68% with 71% of site visitors giving it three and a half stars or more.
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