Kurt Loder Reviews The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Teen anomie is such a heavily trafficked film genre that you wouldn't think it could still offer new directions to explore. Which is what's surprising about The Perks of Being a Wallflower, says Kurt Loder, a movie that makes teenage isolation and high-school torment seem like fresh subjects again. The film's careful structure allows the story to keep surprising us, right up to the end; and its three lead performances, by Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, and Emma Watson, mark notable advances in these young actors' careers.