The Popular Movie Blindspot Thread

[Idioteque Stalker]

Watching the #3 most popular movie of each year according to LB (if I haven't seen it already).
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2012: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I had a strong suspicion I wouldn't like this, and I was right. Normally, that would be the extent of it, but I had to dig deeper because my friend calls it one of his favorites and we watched it together. This time, "It's cheesy, what's next?" just wouldn't cut it. A flailing attempt was made (and the edibles didn't help) to express in exact language something I would normally assume is too obvious for words: "I am not the target demographic for this mass-market coming-of-age YA adaptation."

It should've been obvious once the first montage appeared not even five minutes into the movie that, with Perks, Stephen Chbosky has assembled a highlight reel of every monumental teenage moment -- first day of school, first kiss, first hipster friends ("Welcome to the isle of misfit toys"), homecoming, first party, Sadie Hawkins, first time getting high, prom, opening college acceptance letters, last day of school -- all expertly manufactured to maximize the highest amount of emotional response with the lowest amount of effort. Remember on graduation day when you and all your friends posed for a picture and everyone was happy and life was sweet and we were young and beautiful and the class clown did that funny thing? Remember your English teacher who recommended you read The Great Gatsby on the side? The man practically spoke in life lessons! Oh, you didn't have the perfect friend group, or the perfect English teacher? Well now you can imagine what it would've been like. Either way, doesn't that make you feel something? (Side note: discovering David Bowie and The Smiths as a teen is no doubt a monumental moment, but there needs to be more significance beyond simply name-dropping cool bands. In and of itself, watching someone's musical preferences mature is about as enlightening as following along with their potty training regimen. And we're supposed to believe they know The Shaggs but not "Heroes"? Someone didn't think this through.)

Highly recommended to people who regularly spend time flipping through their senior yearbook. I'll stay here, jaded and imperfect, along with the other adults. Two stars.

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Next up: Edward Scissorhands