The long anticipated movie “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” finally made its way to the big screen on Sept. 21. Even after the film’s release had been delayed, fans of the book that the film is based on continued to eagerly wait for the day when they would finally see their favorite story come to life on screen. For most moviegoers, the day has yet to come.
Written by Stephen Chbosky, the story focuses on Charlie, a freshman trying to adapt to high school life. Throughout the book, Charlie writes letters to an undisclosed person about his everyday life in high school. Though quite unsocial, he meets two friends, seniors Patrick and Sam, who help him survive high school.
The story is light-hearted, humorous and readers aren’t able to stop themselves from rooting for Charlie. A quick read and it’s easy to see why the book draws such a huge fan base.
Then, on Sept. 21, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” made its way to theaters – however, these theaters were only in New York City and Los Angeles. It wasn’t very convenient for the rest of the country, not to mention that there were so many flaws with this marketing strategy.
What about the fans in the Midwest? For most people, being a two-day drive away from either city made seeing the film geographically inaccessible. Most people might even be better off waiting for the DVD to come out.
A week after the film’s release, on Sept. 28, more theaters began playing the movie. Major cities such as Atlanta, Boston and Chicago started showing it. Unfortunately, the film still isn’t being shown in the Amherst area.
There are many questions as to whether towns like Amherst will get to see the movie. On Oct. 5, the movie is supposed to have a nationwide release. However, I have my doubts about this. There is still some controversy because it includes places such as Indianapolis and St. Louis. It is unknown whether these places are the only ones receiving the movie or if the film will ever see a true nationwide release. Even a week later, on Oct. 12, Milwaukee will gain access to the film, which only further adds to the confusion.
Now, the company that produced “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Mr. Mudd Productions, is the same company that produced “Juno,” a film that also had a limited release before it became a cultural phenomenon.
With the success of “Juno,” Mr. Mudd Productions should have trusted that this film would have no problem becoming a box office smash. Originally, “Juno” did not have a target audience. Teenagers loved it, but so did adults. The same goes for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Sometimes, instead of releasing the film nationwide and hoping that it’ll do well, it’s a better idea to slowly build its reputation way up, which will, in the long run, grab attention and money.
For fans, though, they’ve had enough time waiting. There are many reasons why this movie should have been released much more quickly.
First of all, the film is starring some of Hollywood’s greatest talent. Emma Watson (the “Harry Potter” series), Paul Rudd (“Clueless”), Logan Lerman (the “Percy Jackson” series), Nina Dobrev (“Degrassi”/ “Vampire Diaries”), Erza Miller (“Royal Pains”) and Mae Whitman (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) are just some of the talented A-list celebrities in this film. People would go to the film just to see them, and some might not even know anything about the movie.
Finally, a major perk of this movie is Mr. Mudd Productions asked Chbosky, the author, to be the director of this film. This will surely not disappoint fans because he is, after all, the creator of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” The film just falls perfectly together, and if no one can see this masterpiece, was the MTV Awards hype all for nothing?
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” has already gone down in history as an amazing book but we can’t say the same for the movie until we can finally see it. For now, our best hope is to wait for Oct. 5 to come. If not, we have to hold out until it comes out on DVD. This film goes against the book’s famous quote, “and in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” Well, Mr. Mudd Productions, why don’t you expand your horizons?
Rachel Arlin can be reached at [email protected].
