“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

Based on Stephen Chbosky’s best seller of the same name, “Perks” follows the story of Charlie (Logan Lerman) who writes letters to an unknown friend, recounting the events in his life starting with his first day of high school set in the early 1990s. An introverted freshman with no real friends, he tries to take initiative to be less of a wallflower by talking to new people, and he meets outgoing seniors and step-siblings Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson). They take him under their wings and introduce him to parties, drugs, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” reenactments, and an overall new way of seeing life.

What’s rare about “Perks” is that the screenplay writer is the same man who wrote the 1998 book, Stephen Chbosky. This basically means that everything he thought was truly important in the book transitioned into the movie exactly how he wanted to. This also means that fans of the book can’t make the usual assumption that the movie ruined the book because the author made sure to keep what mattered.

I never read the book, so I went in mostly blind to what it was about. I’d suggest not watching the trailer for this movie because the trailer gives too much away. Although I was disappointed that they left out some great scenes from the trailer, I wished that I hadn’t seen it. The only thing I didn’t like was how the relationship between Charlie and his English teacher (Paul Rudd) was only background noise but wasn’t given very much attention, especially since it was really important in the book.

The movie focuses mainly on adolescent pressures and social awkwardness, but a lot of deep-ish themes are touched upon here, too: different kinds abuse, mental disorders, and social acceptance towards goth and homosexuality, but it doesn’t delve too deeply as to make them serious subjects to think about like “The Laramie Project”.  It stays light and uses those themes only as background information. I like that these subjects are just mentioned but not analyzed because it means we really are becoming more progressive.

Logan Lerman (“Percy Jackson”) is better than I expected as the awkward Charlie. Hunched over, shy, smart, and untalkative, the kind that likes to read and listen to old music. His first time getting high and his attempts at dancing at his first Homecoming had most of the people in the audience laughing. You could see Charlie’s growth as a character, coming out of his shell a little bit and then snapping back in when he has a blackout.

Emma Watson (“Harry Potter”) gives herself some good distance from her previous roles as Hermione Granger here, definitely better than Daniel Radcliffe was in “The Woman in Black”. Sam isn’t exactly a bad girl, but she’s the troubled one with the hard childhood. She and Miller had great chemistry with their “living room routine” dance and drives through tunnels. My only issue was that her accent was a bit distracting at times, but I guess that couldn’t really be avoided.

Ezra Miller (“City Island”) was the real gem here as Patrick. Patrick’s that guy that everyone knows that always has something witty to say, that’s naturally the funniest guy in the room, who’s not afraid of himself or anyone else, and that guy that everyone wants to be friends with because he’s a genuinely interesting person. It all fit Miller perfectly. Any guy who can pull off a corset, fishnets, and six-inch heels deserves recognition.

I thought “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is one of the important movies of the year because it stays with you. Maybe it’s not life-changing  or something you’ll remember forever, but it stays with you because it’s the ultimate relatable movie, especially to people who have felt like wallflowers at one point in their lives. I get the sense that the book is very similar to Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye.”

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is rated PG-13.