Growing Down

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

DIRECTOR: Stephen Chbosky

CAST: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller

Rating: *1/2

Chbosky wrote the popular book on which this film is based and directs it as well. Perhaps he thought what he put on paper would translate well on screen. That means having a half-dazed, confused, murmuring teen, just entering high school, having some sort of visions, who not only manages to do well in class but finds nice friends and love in no time at all, with the latter too turning out to be unremarkable but fun and non-cruel.

Even if it would require a great stretch to turn that into a one-hour-50-minute film, Chbosky could have managed if his teens were up to the task. But if Lerman in the lead role takes his description of being a wallflower much too seriously, Watson as his sort-of girlfriend doesn't know what to do with her limited character and stunted dialogue. It's only Miller who brings some zest to this film that otherwise drowns in its maudlinness.

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