Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower ***1/2
Trailer
I read this book and was pretty dang disappointed by the story. It won all kinds of awards and was a best seller, I thought it was be more enjoyable. So why did I see the movie you ask? Because of the cast. I'll be honest. When I saw that Emma Watson and Logan Lerman were going to be main characters I was excited to go see it. I know, weird right? But I was really curious to see Emma Watson in something other than Harry Potter, and I was curious to see how these actors would portray the characters from such a strange book. There was a small amount of inappropriate material in the movie, which was majorly toned down from the amount in the book. The book didn't reflect what high school was like for me so I couldn't relate to it. This movie was a coming of age story. The main character is trying to find who he is while making friends with a confident young girl (Watson) and her gay step brother. One thing I thought was great about the gay character is that he is not defined by his sexuality, it is just a part of his character. If there are to be issues of sexuality in a book or film, this is the way for it to be developed.I felt no emotion while reading the book, except maybe some disgust and discomfort. But the movie had me laughing and crying and feeling a lot of emotions in between. It was very moving and real. I felt that the lead cast did fantastic. They took the book and made it worth watching. I really enjoyed this movie. If you liked the book you should watch the movie. If you didn't read the book but are thinking about it, skip it. Watch the movie. I thought it was great. :)