The story, set in the early 1990s, tells the story of Charlie (Logan Lerman), who has had some sort of serious trauma that he is getting over or around, we are not sure what. He enters high school tremulously and without confidence, and is faced on his first day by that great universal freshman crisis: Which table in the lunchroom will they let me sit at? Discouraged at several tables, including the table with his sister, he's welcomed by two smart and sympathetic seniors.
They are Sam and Patrick, played by Emma Watson who is moving beyond her Hermione role, and Ezra Miller. Charlie makes the mistake of assuming they are a couple, and Sam's laughter corrects him; actually, they're step-siblings. Charlie is on the edge of outgrowing his depression and dorkdom, and is eerily likable in his closed-off way. One of the key players in his life is the dead aunt he often has imaginary meetings with.
Patrick is tall, girlishly handsome, gangly, and gay; Sam is friendly and lovable. They are all three of them damaged in some way--which we find out as the movie moves on (Patrick is really not so much damaged as he is trying to live an authentic life as a gay man within the confines of a bullying environment, but the other two have hidden pasts that are haunting them). They provide each other the emotional cover needed to get through high school and move on. Very nicely done.
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