Stephen Chbosky directs Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson in this darker hued coming of age drama following the loneliness of a boy suffering mental health problems. 

Adapted and directed from the bestselling YA novel by its own author, this is an efficient, well acted teen drama that has a nice eye for an iconic moment. It is, all in all, relatively inoffensive stuff yet it left a bad taste in my mouth. Firstly the big twist involves child abuse but is so coyly hinted at and brushed over so as to be redundant. Either explore an issue or don’t. Secondly, it is kinda hard to care massively about a bunch of rich kids who barely struggle to fuck around and party hard together and get into world class universities. I’m sure their fears, hurt and struggles are just as valid but let’s not pretend their glossy little tragedies are particularly compelling. This is daddy’s platinum card funded misery porn at times. I’ll try to end on some positives as it really isn’t a bad little film. I liked how it showed the kids discovering older music and culture, and not being instantly au fait with it but trying to figure out if it was more authentic than what is directly marketed to them. I also liked the main character’s finding of friends and the importance of that. It was a shame that the romance between him and Watson seemed to be the end goal rather than focussing on the value of belonging.

5