So this movie is great. It's a story about a shy freshman named Charlie (played by Logan Lerman) who doesn't have any friends. The reason why he's so shy is that he's had a lifetime supply of traumatizing events including the death of his aunt whom he loved very dearly, and the unfortunate suicide of his best friend in 8th grade. He befriends an outgoing senior in his shop class named Patrick (played by Erza Miller) who introduces him to a group of colorful seniors such as Sam (played by Emma Watson) Mary Elizabeth (played by Mae Whitman) and more. Even though all seems well during his freshman year, a massive amount of typical high school drama ensues and things get pretty complicated. This movie has a cult-following of typical tumblr girls and such, but I feel like it shouldn't really be judged in that light. It's not just some chick flick, it's an extremely heartfelt tale about high school and love. There's a lot of things I liked, so I'm going to split the likes and dislikes into two paragraphs...so yea here goes!
Liked: I really liked all of the acting! Logan Lerman did an excellent job of portraying this traumatized boy. Emma Watson was awesome too! It's good to finally see her in a movie where she isn't wielding a wand. But Erza Miller did a fantastic job. I found that I liked his super flamboyant and charming character the most out of any of them. Cinematography was great, nothing to complain about there. What I found to be one of the best features was the humor! Since a good chunk of the film is intense and emotional, it's really funny when a good joke shows up. The movie is insanely quotable, sometimes for the wrong reason. It's kinda annoying seeing "In that moment, I swear we were infinite." quotes just slapped on every teenage girls photos and statuses, but that's not the movie's fault.
Didn't like (SPOILERS) : They made out high school to be this terrible hellhole of a place when it really isn't. That girl who made fun of Charlie every day in his English class seemed very unrealistic and put in just to try and convey a "high school is hell" vibe. Speaking of the English class, there was a sub-plot revolving around Charlie's relationship with his English teacher (played by Paul Rudd) which didn't really go anywhere and ended very awkwardly. I didn't think the back-story with the aunt was very well executed. It was poorly conveyed that she molested him as a kid and they could've made that a little clearer. I also didn't like all the corny lines. Again, it's a great film, but just some of the lines were so cliched and obviously written in just to sound sappy. The line that really exemplifies this is "Let's be psychos together." That line is a little too cheesy for me. One last thing is that it seemed very random and out of character that Charlie would beat up those football players to save Patrick. He's a freshman boy and these football players are seniors. It was weird to see this quiet kid all of the sudden gain Superman strength and take on a gang of football players.
All in all this movie is fantastic. All teens should see this movie because it does a good job of portraying that it's okay to be different and that there are always people out there who appreciate you. It also answers a lot of questions teens typically have about love, by showing that there is ups and downs. They perfectly exploit the "nice guys finish last" saying by how most of the girls in the movie have really douche-y boyfriends. The moral of this movie is that high school does have it's ups and downs, but in the end, everything will be fine.
- Eamon
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