<P> The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a 2012 American coming - of - age drama film . An adaptation of the 1999 epistolary novel of the same name, it was written and directed by the novel's author, Stephen Chbosky . Filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the film was released on September 21, 2012, to positive critical response and commercial success, earning $33.4 million to a budget of $13 million . The film stars Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller . Two or three years after the release of film, Chbosky began to speak more openly concerning the mental health care aspects of the film which were of significance to him in the original writing of the book and the production of the film as he conceived it . This is one of the three films from John Malkovich, Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith's Mr. Mudd Productions that feature struggling teenagers; the other two are Ghost World and Juno . </P> <P> The film is set against the background of a young student, Charlie (Logan Lerman), who has been suffering from clinical depression from childhood setbacks and has recently been discharged from a mental health care institution to begin his adaptation to a normal lifestyle as a young high school student . Charlie is uneasy about beginning his freshman year of high school; he is shy and finds difficulty in making friends, but he connects with his English teacher, Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd). </P> <P> When he sits with two seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and her stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller), at a football game, they invite him to join them to several social activities . At a party, Charlie unwittingly eats a cannabis brownie, gets high and discloses to Sam that the year before, his best friend committed suicide . He also walks in on Patrick and Brad (Johnny Simmons), a popular athlete, kissing . Sam realizes that Charlie has no other friends so she and Patrick make a special effort to bring Charlie into their group . Sam needs to improve her SAT scores to be accepted to Pennsylvania State University, so Charlie offers to tutor her . On the way home from the party, when the three hear a song with which they are unfamiliar, Sam instructs Patrick to drive through a tunnel so she can stand up in the back of the pickup while the music blasts . </P> <P> At Christmas, Sam gives Charlie a vintage typewriter to help his aspirations of being a writer . The two discuss relationships, and Charlie reveals he has never been kissed . Sam, though already involved with someone else, tells Charlie she wants his first kiss to be from someone who loves him, and kisses him . Charlie, in love with Sam, begins to try to find ways to show her how he feels . </P>

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