The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

           This coming of age drama is an adaptation of the 1999 novel by Stephen Chbosky, which spent a year atop best seller lists and has been translated into over thirty languages. I didn't think it was a great movie, but it was a good reminder that adolescence is a troubling time for many kids. Charlie is a high school freshman just hoping to make a friend. He describes himself as "the weird kid who spent time in a mental hospital for depression and makes you feel nervous." Lucky for him, he's befriended by two seniors, Patrick and Sam. The movie runs the gamut of teenagerly angst — lunch room drama, family dysfunctions, drinking, drugs, sex, and suicide. Charlie ends up in a good place, but toward the end of the movie he observes, "there's so much pain in the world." Yes, there is.