The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a troubled teen entering high school. He’s dreading the next four years ahead of him and is counting down the days until he graduates. He can’t forget the hard moments of his past. He had rough experiences in middle school and blames himself for the death of his aunt who died in a tragic car accident. He feels alone and isolated—that no one loves him or cares—even his own family.

Charlie has always been an outsider—the shy guy and odd one out. But all of that changes when he meets Patrick (Ezra Miller) and his step-sister Sam (Emma Watson). After Charlie initially meets Patrick and Sam, they begin to spark a friendship right away, which helps Charlie experience true friendship and even love. The spark in their friendship helps Charlie to not only open up more about his personal life, but to open himself up to the world around him.

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a unique film that I personally thought I would find predictable. But it isn’t. It’s a film that takes the meaning of friendship to a whole new level, supported by strong direction, screenwriting, and performances. However, it is also filled with moments of sexual content, scattered profane and vulgar language, drug and alcohol abuse and brief violence.

But this film does display the true reality of a public high school very well: underage drinking, drug use, partying, profanity, bullying, fighting, and sexual immorality. Although the language is scattered, we still hear an f-word, about ten s-words, about ten combined misuses of God and Jesus’ names, and a few other milder profanities. Slurs are also used towards homosexuals.

There is a fight amongst a few characters, but there is no blood. We also see two brief flashbacks of a character getting into a car accident. The sexual content is the most concerning, as we see characters wearing revealing outfits, dancing suggestively at parties, making out on couches, and kissing passionately. However, there are no sex scenes. There are homosexual characters kissing each other in one scene, talk of gay sex, and plenty of sexual references. One homosexual character kisses his straight friend, but later apologizes, and there are two separate scenes of characters suggestively reenacting “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” live on stage. A character also briefly mentions that he was molested by a relative as a child.

Proverbs 18:24 (ESV) says “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Despite the morality issues in the film, that act of friendship is displayed amongst the leads in the film and sends a great message to its audience. “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Like most friendships, they have their ups and their downs, and Charlie and his friends do not have a perfect friendship.

Like most of my reviews, I usually provide Scripture to go along with both the positive and offensive content. Although I provided some Scripture above, I’d really like to stay focused on the positive aspects of this film, rather than the negative ones. If you’re a Christian and reading this article, I’m sure you know that sexual immorality, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying, and profanity are all part of our sin nature and go against our faith.

Friendship, bravery, true love: all these things are on display in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Although this film deals with a lot of harsh moments of being in a public high school, it still sends a powerful message. This is not a Christian film, at all, but still has a few spiritual moments, like a family saying a prayer together, etc. I don’t necessarily recommend this film, but if you or someone you know knows someone who may be feeling isolated and alone, this may be the film for them to watch. If you know of anyone who is a bully or makes fun of the “smart, quiet, or weird kid,” they may benefit from this high school comedy/drama/romance. It could be a true eye opener for some audiences, and it sure was for me.

I do advise, however, that you use discretion when recommending any film to a friend, or watching it yourself, for that matter. The source material in this movie is rough, but if you can get past the sexuality and drug content, you can get a lot out of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Although there is a lot to like about this film, the sexuality, homosexuality, and the drug content are still big issues, so I’m still going to have to label it as Biblically offensive. The film isn’t life changing, to say the least, but it is thought-provoking and a film that some high-schoolers probably need to see in this day and age. It’s a film about being yourself, living life, and accepting someone for who they are.

”Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a) (ESV).

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Heavy—“God” (3), “G*d-damn” (3), OMG (3), “For Chr*st’s sakes,” “Jesus,” “My G*d,” “hell,” s-words (10), f-word, other slang words for sex, “b**bs,” “ass” (2), SOB / Sex/Nudity: Heavy—crude sexual comments, girl in bra, cleavage, shirtless guys, male homosexual kissing, heterosexual kissing and foreplay, talk of sexual abuse of boy by his aunt, crude song lyrics, scene with guys and girls in women’s lingerie

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Negative