That Shelf

It took well over a decade for Stephen Chbosky’s seminal 1990s set young adult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower to come to life on the big screen, and having the book’s author write and direct the finished version works quite well on an emotional level, but not entirely in terms of filmmaking. Those with fond memories of Chbosky’s high school set tale of music, depression, friendship, and alienation (like myself) will be more than happy to know that thematically and structurally the film stays true to the source material. The only real problem is that it’s apparent that Chbosky is a far more talented writer than he is a director.