Logan Lerman and Emma Watson in 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower.'
For nearly 30 years, the late writer-director John Hughes has been the gold standard for movies about teenagers. Saying a film is nearly as good as Hughes' Sixteen Candles or The Breakfast Club is practically an anointment. Dazed and Confused and Superbad are great, funny and true, but they didn't have the level of earnestness folded into coolness that made Hughes' films so special.
But Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower stands shoulder to shoulder with Hughes' best. Chbosky's adaptation of his 1999 novel, a portrait of hope and friendship among teenage outcasts, is brave, funny and dazzlingly effective....
