2012 coming of age movie
Rating: 16/20 (Jen: 19/20)
Plot: A shy high school freshman befriends step-sibling seniors, and they spend about a year trying to figure out the title of a David Bowie song.
This might have hit me a little more than similar movies because Charlie and I would be about the same age. I was introverted and knew a lot of the music from the movie. And I liked the Smiths. Of course, I would have recognized the Bowie, and I never would have stood up in the bed of a rapidly-moving pick-up truck even if I wanted to impress Hermione Granger. Charlie had bad things happen to him, and I never did. Still, spirits kindred enough, and I really felt and pulled for the guy. I wanted the kid to bang Hermoine! I have no idea who Logan Lerman is or what kind of career he's about to have--he seems busy enough which makes perfect sense to him because of how good he was here--but I thought he was great. It's a controlled performance. A kid doing too much in that role would have completely screwed things up. Ezra Miller was almost a little too much. That kid, by the way, was born the year I graduated which makes me feel incredibly old. I thought Watson was good enough, but there's something kind of, I don't know, artificial about her. But I did think the characters, even the auxiliary ones, seemed real in a movie-kind of way, and their stories sneak up on you and take hold in ways that you didn't really expect. I was surprised that I laughed at all, and I was surprised at how bad I felt for the characters at times. Oh, and neither Jen nor I recognized Mary Elizabeth as Mae Whitman, "Egg" from Arrested Development, which is something we thought was funny. I've tried wrapping my mind around what it means to be "infinite" as Charlie describes himself at the end of the movie, and I've settle on that meaning different things for different people. Whatever it is, there's something kind of beautiful about it.
I had a "Bust a Move" moment as a high school kid. I think it might have even involved Young MC! Man, I would have loved this movie as a high schooler.
Lerman plays Percy Jackson, whom Olivia is obsessed with and made her want to watch this (I told her to get back to me when she's 15).
ReplyDeleteI liked this MUCH more than I thought I would. The whole thing is sensitive with a capital S, and you are exactly right that it easily could have gone wrong. I was very touched by the whole thing and cared a lot more than I expected to about the central characters, especially Charlie. It will be interesting to return to this movie in a few years to see if I still like it as much. I loved "St. Elmo's Fire"(another group of young people growing up)when it first came out long ago, and years later found it almost unwatchable. I don't think that will happen with "Wallflower" I would give it a 17 and say it was my second favorite movie of last year. Pretty good since I am definitely in the wrong demographic for this film.
Yeah, I don't think I'm really the audience for it either which for some reason makes it more impressive.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Percy Jackson. I'm not even sure I knew it was a movie. I knew she liked the books.
just watched it. i really want to give it a 20. i think YOU are the audience for this movie. this was your senior year in school my freshman year in college. i guess andrian would be the perfect audience for this. my school sure as hell wasnt like this. hell the first gay person i meet was when i was early 20s.
ReplyDeleteproblems with the movie: i thought charlie came off as a little retarded at times also some of the dialogue was laughable. whats was that about introducing charlie to foriegn films??
interesting note: the author directed this. i find that incredible. i also love these zeitgeist movies where friends get together have the time of their lives and then all go their seperate ways to have the time of their lives.
amy had some problems thinking the teenagers were too old and sophisticated, but this is seen looking back and this is how teenagers see themselves not how we see them now. i want to read the book.