MovieChat Forums > The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) Discussion > I gave it a (generous) 5/10. Here's one ...

I gave it a (generous) 5/10. Here's one reason why.

posted 10 years ago by danavenell
4 replies | jump to latest

The acting was fine, though many scenes were cheesy. But if this was supposed to be about an outsider and other 'misfits' it totally failed - he immediately fell in with what seemed to me to a cool set of people who immediately thought he was great too. Consider say the start of the first Spider-Man movie - I bought that Peter Parker was an unpopular, bullied misfit, so I cared. This guy, the movie tells me he's shy and awkward in some scenes but he's very soon at a cool party taking a hash brownie and charming a bunch of attractive girls and a large group of self-assured but nice - i won't say 'hipsters' but that's closer than any idea of outsiders or social misfits. Thus the whole set-up of the film felt off. I'd have taken to the film much more if i felt these people *were* unpopular outsiders. Instead they seemed like the cool set. So my question is, if you liked it or not, did you buy this crowd were 'misfits' as they claimed? He landed on his feet from the start, total acceptance from a large clique with cool taste in music who must have felt superior in many ways to the regular joes at school even if they weren't 'normal' by other standards. I was bored by the movie too, it seemed immature and had little to say - but I'm curious who felt these people were in any way 'outsiders/misfits' (I've overused those terms now but can't think of other synonyms right now).

[–] nocakeforyou 10 years ago

I think the idea is just to show how cool those "misfits" actually were, and how he instantly connected with them. I can understand what you mean, but I don't think that's a worthy reason to give this a 5/10, it's a fantastic movie.

[–] danavenell 10 years ago

but I don't think that's a worthy reason to give this a 5/10, it's a fantastic movie.

As I said in the title, that was only one of the reasons for my rating. The biggest factor was the cheesiness, I was really bored, didn't like characters, scenes and story-lines seemed overly contrived or cliched - still I gave it a 5 because in some ways it's well made, it's not total crud. It just turned out to be not my kind of film.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Live_Dream 10 years ago

did you buy this crowd were 'misfits' as they claimed?

Short answer: no. Honestly, I didn't even buy Charlie as a misfit.

Long answer: I've read that some people think this movie is contrived, and that's a perfect word for it.

Because so many people relate to the story behind the film, it's characters and the issues they face - the shy, awkward guy who finds love and acceptance with misfits despite a difficult past - they praise it, even though Charlie isn't actually that shy or awkward, his friends are far from misfits and his difficult past is overshadowed by his better than fine present.

The underling messages and serious issues have potential, but they're only used in the most obvious ways as the basest form of emotional manipulation to justify the film's lack of depth - and because so many people are sensitive about these issues and bullying and high school in general, they buy into it.

There's just no way anyone in this film was a misfit - except maybe Brad in his own family.