Toucha-toucha-toucha-touch me

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Crit

Golly, I didn't see that coming. It's true that I usually don't, but this is one of those really smart twists that the film has been preparing you for all along, but if you're as inattentive a viewer as I, it blindsides you, in a laudably effective way.

But before I say anything else, a preflick word from my Pittsburgher friend Andrea:

The writer/director (and the writer of the book), Steve Chbosky, went to my high school. He was a senior when I was a freshman and his sister Stacy was in my class. They filmed a lot of Perks in Pittsburgh and a good amount in Upper St. Claire, where we grew up. They actually filmed the school scenes as a nearby school (Peters) because they had done a multimillion dollar renovation of our high school and it wasn't the ugly 70s building that he was thinking of when he wrote the book. The letter jackets were designed based on the jackets we had at school and there is a scene in one of our favorite after-school hangouts (Kings) so it is going to be a blast from the past when I do get to see it!

And then after she got to see it (with passes to a special New Haven premiere for Pittsburghers, I guess):

AMAZING. Steve did an incredible job translating the book into the film. Beyond the fantastic and engrossing story and actors, I loved the feeling of being in Pittsburgh and back at USCHS. I feel the desire to go have a hot fudge sundae at Kings, then drive through the Fort Pitt tunnel, and take a trip up Mt. Washington. Also, to travel back in time to a USCHS football game (preferably from our state championship year). Also, while I am a little disappointed by the absence of squids, I appreciate that someone was called a jag-off.

I wouldn't go so far as "amazing," but then I didn't go to school there. But I sure drove through that tunnel often enough when I lived in W.Va.--the tunnel through the mountain was the signal that I was nearing the only real city in a 200-mile radius, and that was exciting. Plus, it's just a pretty cool tunnel, though I confess I never went through it standing up.

What I will say is that it is a lovely, affecting film with a buttload of Rocky Horror soundtrack and footage in it--Richard O'Brien must have loved the book to let them use so much. I would have bought freshman Charlie's fitting into the group of misfits a bit more if they weren't all seniors, and the romantic connections seem pretty implausible, but I think we're to see it as the character's based-on-actual-events recollected experience, and in that context, it makes sense.

One thing I cannot forgive, however: Charlie's English teacher (Paul Rudd), his "best teacher ever," has MISSPELLED Emily Dickinson's name on a poster on the back wall of the classroom. Come on!

Trailers

• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn--Part 2--OK, seriously, could Kristen Stewart get back to having an acting career now?
• Beautiful Creatures--Wow, could this be any more directed to the Twilight audience?
• The Impossible--Looks like it starts with the same tsunami as that Matt Damon-as-psychic flick from a couple of years ago, then gets all heartwarming.