As someone over 21, I feel like an interloper reviewing this film. It didn't reflect my teenage experience back to me, but I was well past that phase in the early nineties. And yet, the American high school, such a tired, over-familiar arena for American cinema, seems not to have moved on at all. Jocks, Jewish-American princesses, closet gays and geeks all populate this film in fairly conventional representations. The lead character is in a state of fragile mental health, but no Holden Caulfield. He finds friends, has a loving family, and a teacher who looks out for him. The main issue he has is historical abuse, but the rendering of this is so 'lite' as to be unrealistic and totally lacking in emotional impact. I can buy that they did not know a Bowie classic in this part of the world in the early nineties, but I can't accept that they would ostracise a clearly fragile friend after one drunken party faux pas. The film does not explore the fallout of childhood abuse in meaningful terms, and it fails to capture the pain and euphoria of being a teenager. All in all, a bit flat and disappointing.
Review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower
