The Perks of Being a Wallflower (book- 1999, movie- 2012)

Writer (book AND screenplay) /Director: Stephen Chbosky
Type: Coming-of-age high school dramedy

Cast:
Charlie- Logan Lerman
Charlie's mom- Kate Walsh
Charlie's dad- Dylan McDermott
Charlie's sister, Candace- Nina Dobrev
Sam- Emma Watson
Patrick- Ezra Miller
Brad- Johnny Simmons (young Neil from "Scott Pilgrim vs. the world")
Mary Elizabeth- Mae Whitman
Alice- Erin Wilhelmi
Aunt Helen- Melanie Lynskey
Dr. Burton- Joan Cusack
English teacher, Mr. Anderson- Paul Rudd

Personal Exposition- My Life as a Wallflower
Yet another topic that begs for an AA reference:
"Hi, my name is... and I'm a wallflower."

Other than my time participating in concert choir, high school musicals, that's probably the best way I could describe myself in high school. I was a wallflower... and I was okay with that. Most of this was to maintain my grades. Can't say that I'm a huge nerd because my grades were above-average (I believe I was 136/522) so I wasn't exactly among the best and brightest.
And the rest of it... I just have trouble making friends. I'm afraid to participate socially because when I was younger, I had a few experiences where I wanted to get involved and nobody wanted to hang out with me. Either because I was weird or they thought they were better than me.

Ultimately, that wound up defining a lot of my social life. I've had occasions where I made a friend or two, but a year later, they'd make other friends. People with stronger personalities that I didn't feel I could compete with for my former friend's attention. I got really lucky in middle school when I had classes with a couple of  the same people and things naturally worked themselves out.
But high school kinda felt like hell because, except for lunch period one year and concert choir, I never hung out with anybody. Just didn't have that confidence to put myself out there to form friendships.

Then in college, my junior year, a couple people started asking me to hang out with them... they were a bunch of weirdoes too and I couldn't imagine why they were interested in me. But after a while (can't remember if it was weeks or months), I took a chance simply because I was in no position to turn down friends.
(So I guess you could say that was my "Cady Heron meets the Plastics" moment).

It's a little trickier in the workplace... because I want to maintain the façade of professionalism, but I also don't want to come off as a snob or worse because I don't socialize. What I need to do, I think, is learn how to read people so I know which ones I can be gregarious with and which I can't.
I'm not sure if that makes me more of a wallflower or a people-pleaser. :P

Exposition

I'd seen this book on the shelves for a couple years, intrigued by the title. But I think I need the extra push from the fact it'd become a movie... I didn't get to see it until it came out on DVD (thanks a lot, Hollywood, and your stupid wide-release-only movies).

According to my Goodreads page, I read this within a month. But if I didn't pace myself, I could have done it within a day. It was the most compelling book I'd read in a long time.
The first one I devoured and connected with since "Twilight" (fall of 2008) and the first that affected me personally since "The Giver" (2000-2001)- where it stayed with me for weeks afterwards.

I guess you could call it divine intervention or perfect timing, but it was like this book was something I needed to read because it corresponded with something I was going through.
Or what I had been going through a while... periods of depression where it was hard for me to participate in my own life... being unemployed, putting all this energy into the application and interviews processes, and my efforts going unrewarded... [this went on between 2011-2013 and I finally got "the call" last March]

The Book
Spoilers Ahead for who we hadn't read or seen this book/movieThe book wound up being different than I pictured it would be. I thought it'd just be about a shy protagonist struggling to survive high school. I didn't know Charlie had a history of depression or that his best friend had committed suicide. Or had any idea about the troubling secret in his past that he'd just come to grips with.

This was a heavy book in a lot of places. I remember multiple times where Charlie talked about bursting into tears, crying and such. Some was warranted as were the periods of depression and loneliness he experienced. I've had those kinds of moments myself. But after a while, I started to feel self-conscious about him being so emotional all the time. All while hoping "please don't have this be a reoccurring thing in the movie."

The book had a lot of sex and drugs. Not that I'm totally vanilla about all that. I just never grew up around all that. At least not until college where half the population were smokers and some of my roommates frequented frat parties and such. Charlie recalled a situation he was in where he was at a party and walked in on a girl being forced to give a guy a blow job. His new friend Patrick was gay and had a complicated relationship with a football player. After his [football player's] father caught them together, Patrick started taking Charlie to a certain park where he'd pick up random guys. And his other friend Sam used to have a reputation- when she was a freshman, she got taken to a lot of parties, got drunk and such...

They don't sugar coat much in this book. It's realistic, but not to the point where it's overbearing.
I remember reading it was one of those books that got challenged by school systems. With all the sex and drugs, it's hard to imagine why that might be.
There was also another scene that stuck with me. Throughout the book, Charlie's sister was really mean to him. Her boyfriend hit her once and their parents found out later on. But there was a point where she asked Charlie to take her to the abortion clinic.
What shocked me most was that their parents never found out about it, and in a way, that's a good thing. For both parties.

Despite everything going on, how challenging some of it was to get through emotionally, it was a cathartic read. I loved that Charlie was an avid reader. His narratives read the way I often write. They meander, touching on multiple topics at once, and just going on forever. And I didn't get sick of it. Loved the way he talked about the book he read for class (and that Mr. Anderson gave him for additional reading).
Mr. Anderson was such a great character. Probably will go down as one of my favorite fictional teachers because he was very supportive of Charlie. I liked him so much that I was afraid that of some big reveal later on that would undo this amazing teacher-student relationship he and Charlie had.

All the characters were defined so well that you could either relate to them because you saw yourself in them or people you knew.

The Movie

Because I'd already read and loved the book, I really didn't need to worry about not liking the movie. I already knew Logan Lerman from the Percy Jackson series. Of course Emma Watson from the "Harry Potter" series. Nina Dobrev ("Vampire Diaries"), who didn't look anything like how I read the character in the book, played his older sister.

Overall, I was very pleased with it as a teen movie and also as a book-to-movie adaptation. A couple of scenes didn't make the cut. Most were for good reason (toned down the sexual content and Charlie only had one major breakdown scene, which was in the epic 3rd act climax... I write that as if it were a cliché, but I felt like it was handled very well). One scene I kinda missed was Charlie taking his sister to the abortion clinic because that was a great bonding scene for them. Luckily, that was available via the DVD extras.

I liked how it was approached as a dark comedy where it knew where to be light, but also to go very dark. And it did so without completely losing me. Certain movie overdo it with the drama and I never felt that here.
The tunnel scene is probably the most iconic in the book, where Charlie says "I feel infinite"... that was done so well... it was really something special.
All of the actors played their roles so well. Especially loved Ezra Miller as Patrick. I'd only seen him in one other movie since ("Beware the Gonzo"), but he was born to play this character. Nobody else could have made him so hilarious and also grounded and angsty.
I'd never seen "Parenthood," but I can't imagine anyone else playing Mary Elizabeth (the opinionated Buddhist vegan) except Mae Whitman.

With him playing so many idiots, it's good to see Paul Rudd play a nice straight character with a really good moral compass... my only nitpick was that Mr. Anderson wasn't in the movie nearly enough for my tastes :P

Great use of music throughout. I'd only heard "Asleep" by The Smiths one other time... and it was part of the "Sucker Punch" soundtrack. Personally, I still prefer Emily Browning's voice to those lyrics :shrug: but that's just me.
Using "Come on Eileen" at the homecoming dance was inspired... especially how it was like Charlie's soundtrack for when he approached the dance floor to meet up with Sam and Patrick... and that's saying a lot because I HATED this song. I still don't like it a whole lot (sounds like a bunch of hillbillies who can barely carry a note), but I can't help appreciating in this one instance.
Then David Bowie's "Heroes" for "The Tunnel" scene... powerful stuff... wow

Aunt Helen and Dr. Burton

As for comparing to the two mediums (book vs. movie), the movie did one thing that the book really didn't... it explained Aunt Helen's presence in Charlie's life, their relationship and how it contributed to him being [pardon the language] fucked him up.

Towards the end of the book, something happened in the 3rd act that resulted in Charlie being hospitalized... to me, it was very vague and never fully explained.

I literally had to read on Goodreads.com (where I posted my review of the book) that Aunt Helen molested him. Then other people commented how he psychologically exhibited those signs of abuse throughout the book- how it explained him being so emotional and such...

Not so much the fact that it happened to him, but I was frustrated that so many people picked up on this and I had no idea. Frankly, it made me feel like an idiot because to them, it was glaringly obvious.
In my personal defense, I had never experienced any of that and never personally knew anyone who experienced any of that... so how am I supposed to pick up on that?

I was also thrown off because Charlie kept saying Aunt Helen was his favorite person and he had nothing but good things to say about her. [Another thing that should be very obvious... that sense of shame and betrayal because it was at the hands of someone you really cared about and trusted].
And the way I read her character in the book, she read a lot older to me... someone as beautiful and young as Melanie Lynskey surely didn't come to mind. I expected someone much older with some gray-hair at least.

They were kinda vague about it in the movie too, but there was a bit of pay-off at the end. Where it was addressed. The breakdown scene begins where Charlie and Sam start kissing and she's rubbing his leg, startling him to the point where he stops... this image flashes on the screen multiple times and we see Aunt Helen's face intermingle where she says "don't wake your sister"...

Joan Cusack is in this movie only for a couple scenes as his doctor at the hospital. I loved her in this. She had such a comforting on-screen presence. One of those actresses I'd only see so much of, but enjoy being around them when they're doing their thing on screen. She was really good to Charlie where he was having difficulties. Definitely a quality over quantity type of deal.

Other Comments

Both medias have their give and take. I miss hearing Charlie's thought-provoking narratives, how he spoke about the books he read. The characters were represented well in both versions.
One negative I can derive is that we really didn't see much of his parents. Not a lot of interaction between them. I watched one of the deleted scenes and the writer/director talked about how great Kate Walsh was in it... I appreciated that she was good in the scene. I just wish the movie spent more time on her and his dad. I never fully connected with either of them.

This is one of those movies where, later on, I would like to see it with commentary. Just getting to know some of the actors more. Getting inside the director's head... it's amazing to me that the guy who wrote the book got to write the screenplay and direct the movie... it's so rare where writers have so much freedom with their material.
Apparently, John Hughes had bought the rights to it... but the movie got put on hold after his death. I read that it was Emma Watson's favorite book and I'd been under the impression she was the reason the movie happened at all. As much as I love John Hughes, I'm glad that this movie went to someone else. His work is great and I will love him forever for his Brat Pack movies, but something like this... I don't think it would have worked out quite as well with him behind the camera.

This movie was ultimately the reason I watched "Rocky Horror Picture Show" a couple years ago... I wanted to understand the whole phenomenon of it... I still don't quite get it :P but I'm still interested in giving it another go. Only next time, I'd like to watch with other people and preferably at an earlier hour so I don't FALL ASLEEP halfway through.
The last thing I remembered was the "Touch Me" musical number and I woke up halfway through the cabaret scene... I didn't know what the fuck was going on! Reading the synopsis later on, it said how they were coerced into it... I missed that entirely, so mentally, I wasn't engaged for the final 40 minutes.

I promise, I'm really good with weird :P but I'd like another chance to wrap my head around all that.

This is going to sound a little messed up, but I'll try to explain this:
This is one of those movies I like to watch when I'm going through something... where I'm feeling down on myself, lacking energy, PMSing or whatever reason... in an odd sort of way, it makes me feel better...
Not so much the "other people have it worse than you" cliché as the fact that it feels kinda good to explore things I'm feeling through these characters. It's healing :shrug:
That's all I can say, really... plus the fact I should see it with my friends, Sam and Dave, at one point so we can experience all those feels together :P

Theatrical Review: Let's Be Cops

Date: Friday August 22, 2014
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 12:10 pm
Party: me, myself & I

Cast:
Ryan O'Malley- Jake Johnson
Justin Miller- Damon Wayans Jr.
Josie- Nina Dobrev
Officer Segars- Rob Riggle
Mossi- James D'Arcy
Brolin- Andy Garcia
Pupa [dreadlocks guy]- Keegan-Michael Key

Running Time: 104 minutes (+3 trailers)

Write-up:

Intro

As a fan of "New Girl," the moment this movie was announced... I knew I had to see it. Then when the trailers debuted, that hadn't changed. I also figured out another thing: in all likelihood, I'd be going solo to see this. So many R-rated comedies come out, most of which aren't worth much, so unless they have word-of-mouth going their way or they star good people, it's a tough sell.

This being the second week this is out, I also figured it'd be a small crowd. I just didn't predict I'd have the whole theater to myself :P
Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. [I'll explain why later.]

On a side-note, I saw a couple adults and kids in front of the box office before I got my ticket, so I could only guess they were there to see "The Giver" or the new Ninja Turtles movie. The latter turned out to be true.

Previews

I gotta say... these guys know their audience. All three of the trailers were R-rated comedies. Two of which were sequels to moderate successes.

I saw "Horrible Bosses" on HBO, wasn't a huge fan, but it had moments. Just not really enough to warrant this sequel. In one scene, it got me thinking they were trying to promote it as the next "Hangover" movie... probably not the best idea, considering how the sequels didn't get as much love as the original. At least they're not taking themselves too seriously.

"Hot Tub Time Machine," I'd heard was actually good, but I didn't expect it to be good enough to get picked up for a sequel. This time, they wind up going to the future. Something really idiotic, though, when Craig Robinson's character went back in time previously, he took it upon himself to take credit for writing certain songs. "Let's Get Started" was one thing, speaking as a not-so-big Black-Eyed Peas fan. But Lisa Loeb's "Stay"... that I cannot abide.

Then we have probably the most controversial movie of the year... so controversial they recently pushed back the release date to December. Clearly this trailer for "The Interview" was done before this announcement. Yep, it is so idiotic and insane, if North Korea declares war on us over it, God help us.

The Main Attraction

I first heard about this movie's existence a year ago around this time. I don't know if that was when Nick Miller was my new TV crush or I was so busy shipping Nick & Jess that I was dreaming about it... no matter what the story is, Jake Johnson was enough incentive for me to go.

Let's get one thing straight:
This isn't the world's best movie by any means. So anyone throwing shade in its general direction, they need to lighten up because they knew what they were getting coming into it.

Aside from being unrealistic, my only other negative was a lull in the 3rd act where I was wondering when this thing would be over. Almost like waiting through a comic's story waiting for a punch line.
To their credit, though, they did have a damn good punch line. No way would it work out so well in real life, but really, who cares.

Storyline

These two 30-year old guys, Ryan and Justin, are getting nowhere in life.

Ryan was the quarterback at Purdue with a lot of NFL promise until he had a "career ending injury." Now, all he does with himself is play little-league football with a bunch of neighborhood kids... might I add they don't even want him there to begin with. Only one kid, Joey, seems to like him.

Justin works for a company that makes video-games. When we first see him in his element... let's be honest, he really isn't. We see him at a boardroom trying to pitch his game and this other jerk takes over the entire thing. Ultimately, Justin is shut out, and the new idea winds up being firefighters versus zombies because they're "original."

The cop uniforms were originally part of Justin's pitch for "Patrollman L.A.," and they decide to wear them to a Purdue alum costume party. Only, Ryan misconstrues that masquerade and costume parties are synonyms and they stick out like sore thumbs. On their way back, they come to the realization that people respect the uniform and Ryan says... wait for it...

"Let's Be Cops!"

For the first part of the movie, you get a lot of idiocy. The guys use the uniforms to get away with things and goof around. [Some of this footage comes during the credits for some last minute laughs]. Ryan actually takes it upon himself to get police training from YouTube videos and customize an old cop car he bought on eBay.
We also get some shenanigans where they try to settle a domestic disturbance and wind up going with a couple of actual cops to a robbery at Ace hardware.
All goes well for a while until they mess with the wrong people.

Before this "transformation," the guys first encounter our villains at a valet space. Their car stalls and, impatient, the villains' Mercedes SUV goes around them and basically does a hit-and-run.
The next time, they find them while in uniform and BS their way through the situation until they convince the bad guys to leave the scene. They were threatening a small restaurant owner to sell to them and is the same place where Justin's crush Josie works.

While maintaining this façade, the guys decide to help Officer Segars take down this notorious gangster Mossi, whom the department has chased for years but unable to pin because the evidence always disappears before they can make the arrest.

Not only does this become dangerous, but it gets complicated really quickly when they find out who the real head of the operation is.
All I will say: he's played by Andy Garcia in a really great role and you do not want to mess with him.

To their credit, however silly and unbelievable the movie gets at times, how everything resolves in the end... it worked out really well and for Ryan and Justin, the light at the end of the tunnel of their lives is very bright.

Acting and Comedy

It was a good thing I was alone in the theater because I could not get myself to shut up. There were lots of laughs to be had for sure with one real Laugh Out Loud moment that temporarily escapes me but it's towards the end of the movie. There are a few points where the gags run a little long... but things pick up quickly afterwards. I was also making remarks periodically about how stupid it is, this will never work, etc, etc. A real good time :P

I'd recommend this movie, but only to a few select groups of people.

Like I said, people who don't expect to come into something hits-you-over-the-head amazing.

Also for people who like R-rated comedies.

Most of the R-rating is cursing, but we have some sexual references and one instance of nudity. After being blindsided by "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," I made sure to research what I was coming into. In this case, the male nudity occurred at Ace hardware. For whatever reason, one of the perps is this sumo wrestling dude that had no clothes on... [exasperated sigh] I don't know why. I guess they just wanted this moment where he falls on top of Justin and he desperately wanted to get away from his... yeah, the guy was overweight so we didn't really see anything offensive until this point.
Speaking of offensive, Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" came on during this scene. I haven't been the biggest Miley Cyrus fan since last year's VMA's, but I like that song. Probably one of the worst uses of a song in the context of a movie I'd ever witnessed.

Oh well... at least "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys was used in good taste 8-) I know it was meant as a joke, but I appreciated its incorporation.

Most importantly, I would absolutely recommend this movie to "New Girl" fans. Heck, other than the R-rated comedy route, that's probably its key demographic.
Going into the series, I thought for sure Schmidt would get all the fangirls because he was more outgoing and funny and Nick was just a wet blanket. I don't know, I guess when Nick started to lighten up and have some genuinely good moments, I was crushin'.

Damon Wayans Jr. was in the show's pilot and disappeared after he chose the now-cancelled ABC comedy "Happy Endings" instead. Only recently did he return to the show as a reoccurring character and this upcoming season, he's back to being a regular.
At first, I thought Coach made the main cast feel overcrowded, that he didn't really add anything to the plot... but I'm starting to come around a bit.

If you take the different backstories and names out of the equation, you would think this was just Nick and Coach in another life. At least that's the case at first. Nick and Ryan have in common that they're both slackers, not doing much with themselves. Where they vary: Ryan is more optimistic than Nick ever was. Either way, I just find Jake Johnson a very engaging person on screen so watching this felt like home.
Coach is more eager, sometimes a little too intense with his take-no-prisoners attitude. Justin is the pessimist and realistic to Ryan's optimist, which makes for great comic relief and tons of great chemistry.

Again, Andy Garcia is a great intimidating bad guy. His screentime is short compared to some of the other characters and I don't want to give away too much about his character, but he does give this movie some credibility.

Nina Dobrev plays Josie, an aspiring make-up artist who waits tables to get by. I watched the first few seasons of "Vampire Diaries" (left just after they introduced werewolves and got WAY too complicated) and it was nice to see another familiar face. It could be argued that none of the characters in this movie are deep, but at least with the two leads I have something to add. With Josie, I don't really have much to add. She takes more interest in Justin when she believes he's a cop including one scene where she's dying to have sex with him. On the plus side, they didn't go all cliché and make her a kidnap victim.

Rob Riggle is a comedian I'd seen countless times in a number of movies. For whatever reason, I can't remember ANY of them, but that's all right. He's not someone you can take seriously, but he proves to be a good character and a valuable asset to this movie... if only to keep our leads from getting killed.

One scene-stealer worthy of note:
While trying to get enough evidence for an arrest, Ryan and Justin kidnap the driver of the van transporting the goods and torture him for answers.
They wind up hitting it off and come up with the idea to disguise Justin as him so he can sneak into a party to gather evidence. He was pretty funny and even returns in the final scene.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, this movie probably won't do well enough in the box office to get a sequel. Rotten Tomatoes was particularly harsh.
I can certainly see where a sequel could be made, with the dreadlocks dude making our dynamic duo a trio. But knowing how this industry works, it might not be the best idea. Who's to say that we'll get the same cast for a sequel or that the script won't get lazy.

I might not get this on DVD, but if it makes HBO, I can see myself watching it a couple more times if only to chill out and have a good time.


Grade: B+ (for "New Girl" fans), B (everyone else)