Given the success of recent book adaptations aimed at the tween and teen crowd, it was a no-brainer for writer / director Stephen Chbosky to take a crack at converting his own beloved novel The Perks Of Being A Wallflower into a film. And so he has, signing Emma Watson, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman to star. The first trailer arrived over the weekend during the MTV Movie Awards, but locked down so only US web types could watch it. Now it’s out for everyone.
Wallflower follows 15-year-old Charlie (Lerman), heading to his first year of high school in the wake of his best friend’s suicide. Always a bit of an introvert and outsider, Charlie decides that this year will be different – and so it is, as he finally makes some connections with the likes of Sam (Watson) and Patrick (Miller). He even finds friendship with an English teacher, played by Paul Rudd. Soon Charlie is navigating the tricky by waters of teenage life: sex, drugs and coping with the world.
Without an easy, **Twilight **/ Hunger Games-style hook, Wallflower hews more towards the indie movie style, but appears to hold enough charm and certainly boasts a respectable cast. And with the book’s original writer overseeing everything, it has a good chance of pleasing the hefty fan base. The movie will be out on September 14 in the US, but there’s no set UK date yet.