10 Movies Like The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is a 2012 film based on the novel by Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote and directed the adaptation. Despite the 13-year difference between the publication of the book and the release of the film, Chbosky still chose to keep the movie set in the 1991-92 school year as it follows three high school students — a freshman and two seniors — during said year. The freshman is Charlie (Logan Lerman), clinically depressed and initially unable to connect with his classmates. That is, until seniors/stepsiblings Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller) take Charlie under their wing and bring him into their social circle.

There are a number of coming-of-age movies that should be required viewing, but fans of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" will likely be looking for more specific flavors of the genre when seeking out similar films. All of the movies on this list contain one or more elements that should appeal to people who enjoyed "Wallflower" beyond just being in the same genre. 

Some of the films came out around the same time; some take place in roughly the same era and/or are deliberate throwbacks to a specific time and place; several are about shy, introverted teens who open up after being welcomed into a more outgoing group, while others are built around one or more of the main characters overcoming a trauma in their past; and more than a few are just undeniable classics in the coming-of-age teen movie pantheon and are justifiably always recommended to people who are exploring this area of film. 

Before she was tackling major properties like "Barbie" and "Snow White," filmmaker Greta Gerwig had been exclusively co-writing movies that she also starred in as one of the lead characters. That is, until 2017's "Lady Bird," which would be the first of her filmmaking efforts in which she didn't act at all. Though Gerwig said that "Lady Bird" isn't directly based on any specific elements of her life, the movie is set in the same time period when she would have been in high school — and she did take the cast and crew on a tour of her hometown and give them her old journals and high school yearbooks, clearly wanting the vibe to be that of her own teenage experience. 

The movie is about a high school senior named Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), who goes by the self-appointed titular nickname. She feels stifled by both the all-girls Catholic school she attends and the California city she lives in, believing that an East Coast college would offer her the life and the experiences she has been missing. Lady Bird frequently clashes with her mother (Laurie Metcalf) over not only her college plans but just about everything else, and her personal life also isn't going the way she would like it to. It's a sweet, touching dramedy that anyone who has struggled to fit into high school and longed for a future that was the exact opposite of their upbringing can relate to. Upon release, it even became — at the time — the highest-rated movie ever on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Not unlike "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," there is a social triangle at the center of 2016's "The Edge of Seventeen" that involves two siblings and a friend. However, the one in the latter is quite different. High schooler Nadine Franklin (Hailee Steinfeld) struggles with both the death of her father and having to live in the shadow of her popular brother, Darian (Blake Jenner). One of the only rocks in Nadine's life is her best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), and that gets complicated when Krista and Darian begin to date — not surprisingly, under bitter protest from Nadine. 

Steinfeld rightfully earned raves for her performance in "The Edge of Seventeen," neither her first big role nor her breakout film but one that still cemented her place as one of the most talented members of her generation of young Hollywood. She plays Nadine as charmingly self-deprecating in one moment but deeply insecure the next, often within the same scene. It's definitely one of the most realistic portrayals of teenage awkwardness and confusion ever put on screen, though credit where credit is due to writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig for creating Nadine and guiding Steinfeld's performance of her. 

The pair did such great work together that Craig was brought in to do an uncredited rewrite on "Bumblebee," the acclaimed Steinfeld-led "Transformers" prequel released two years later — with Craig specifically helping to developer Steinfeld's character in that movie. 

Every generation seems to have its own fresh batch of modernized William Shakespeare adaptations. Millennials got both Baz Luhrmann's over-the-top vision of "Romeo + Juliet," and director Gil Junger's "10 Things I Hate About You," which is actually the re-skinned Shakespeare play "The Taming of the Shrew." For the latter, the setting was moved to a Seattle high school, with the conflict being updated to teenager Bianca's (Larisa Oleynik) overprotective father decreeing that she can only have a boyfriend if her sister, Kat (Julia Stiles), has one as well. 

Enter Cameron (Joseph-Gordon Levitt), Joey (Andrew Keegan), and Patrick (Heath Ledger). What follows are sneaky deals, shifting allegiances, and boys carelessly playing with and breaking the hearts of girls for their own selfish ends. Of course, all is as it should be by the movie's conclusion, and everyone ends up with who they are supposed to end up with — but don't let an unsurprising ending, nor the fact that it's based on one of Shakespeare's more problematically misogynistic stories, keep you from checking out this movie that has become a beloved coming-of-age classic for good reason. Much of why it all works the way it does is thanks to the performances of Stiles, Ledger, and Gordon-Levitt, with all three experiencing simultaneous breakout roles at once.

At one point, "10 Things I Hate About You" was going to a have a very dark spiritual successor, but it eventually joined the ranks of movies that were canceled because the star quit.

The 2013 coming-of-age drama "The Spectacular Now" has the special distinction of getting the final four-star review that famed film critic Roger Ebert ever gave. In his absolutely glowing write-up, Ebert gushed, "Here is a lovely film about two high school seniors who look, speak and feel like real 18-year-old middle-American human beings [...] We have gone through senior year with these two. We have known them. We have been them." Ebert points out how rare it is that a film about teenagers feels like a natural depiction of them, and how special "The Spectacular Now" is for that reason alone.

The two high school seniors in question are Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) and Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley), who are barely aware of one another until they meet one morning when Aimee comes upon Sutter, passed out after a night of hard drinking, and offers to help him find his car. They quickly develop a relationship, bonding over not only shared interests but also strained relationships with their mothers and the absences of their fathers. Sutter's drinking is an ongoing issue in their relationship, as is his ex-girlfriend who isn't quite as out of his system as he — or Aimee — would like. 

It's a frank, honest look at an imperfect teenage boy, struggling with issues both within and beyond his control, and whether or not he can be selfless enough to realize he has a lot of work to do on himself before he can be the partner that Aimee deserves. 

Filmmaker Cameron Crowe has a strong presence in the pantheon of movies that defined Generation X. His debut screenwriting effort was 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," which remains one of the most honest and grounded depictions of the emotional and physical relationships of high school students ever put on screen. Seven years later, he stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct "Say Anything..." (which he also wrote), staying in the realm of teenage relationships but taking a more nuanced and intimate approach by focusing primarily on a single couple.

When quirky, academically unmotivated Lloyd Dobbler (John Cusack) shoots his shot with straight-laced valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye), she decides to give him a chance. But Diane's father doesn't think Lloyd is good enough for his daughter, and eventually convinces Diane to focus on her schoolwork rather than have a boyfriend. Fast-forward to one of the most iconic shots in movie history, with Lloyd standing outside Diane's bedroom holding a boombox aloft as Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" plays. It's easy to allow yourself not to take that moment seriously, given how much it has been parodied in the decades since, but it's a sweetly earnest moment in a sweetly earnest film that has more than secured its place in multiple pantheons — not only Gen X movies and coming-of-age films but also rom-coms in general.

"Juno" has a connection with "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" that no other movie on this list can claim: both films share production company Mr. Mudd, co-founded by actor John Malkovich. Though Mr. Mudd has produced films of widely varying genres, it has definitely made its mark in the coming-of-age genre with not only the aforementioned movies but also "Ghost World" and "Art School Confidential."

But that's not the only thing that "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Juno" have in common. "Juno" is also about introverted characters drawn into high school notoriety and having to deal with what that all means — only in this case, it isn't by their own choice or design. When longtime friends Paulie Bleecker (Michael Cera) and Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page) end up having sex one night, Juno gets pregnant, which of course becomes the talk of not only the school but much of the town. While trying to deal with the implications of her impending teenage motherhood, Juno is also forced to reconcile her feelings for Paulie, which may be much more romantic than she was previously aware of or is willing to admit. 

Page, who had been presenting as female at the time, got a best actress Oscar nomination for his performance, while first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody won for best original screenplay. "Juno" is the kind of movie that got so popular and so ingrained in popular culture that a lot of people kind of turned on it, but it didn't deserve that backlash and will likely go down as a coming-of-age classic revisited by generations to come. 

Not all movies need to reinvent the wheel to be creatively successful in their genre. Case in point: 2013's "The Way, Way Back," which is described in the Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus this way: "Despite its familiar themes, 'The Way Way Back' makes use of its talented cast, finely tuned script, and an abundance of charm to deliver a funny and satisfying coming-of-age story." Great art is not always about doing something differently, just about doing it well. And "The Way, Way Back" does coming-of-age teen dramedy extremely well.

Screenwriting duo Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, who had previously won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for "The Descendants" — making Rash one of the only MCU actors that has won an Oscar — teamed again to write as well as co-direct "The Way, Way Back." It's the story of a shy teenager named Duncan (Liam James), who is spending the summer at a beach house with his neglectful mother (Toni Collette) and her jerk boyfriend (Steve Carell), who is frequently antagonistic toward Duncan. It's there that Duncan meets Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb), who is staying with her family at the beach house next door. Like Charlie in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Duncan spends the summer being pulled out of his introverted comfort zone not only by Susanna, but also the friends he makes while working at the local water park. 

As "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" goes on, the themes get a fair bit darker, particularly in regard to elements of Charlie's past. That being said, a majority of the recommendations made here so far have either been straight-up comedies, or dramedies with a notable leaning towards the funnier side. Those who are "Wallflower" fans specifically for its drama and sadder elements should definitely put 2014's "The Fault in Our Stars" near the top of their must-watch list.

Based on the John Green novel, "The Fault in Our Stars" follows a teenage girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) with thyroid and lung cancer who meets a boy named Gus Waters (Ansel Elgort) at a cancer support group. Though he is primarily there to support his cancer-stricken friend, Gus himself also has cancer and has lost a leg because of it. Hazel and Gus end up connecting, first as friends and soon as much more. It's the kind of story for which a truly happy ending obviously isn't in the cards for everyone involved, but it's about the relationship that Hazel and Gus have and are trying to make the most of, despite the ticking clock that looms large over their time together. 

Another John Green novel adaptation, "Paper Towns" came out only a year after "The Fault in Our Stars" and may have gotten a bit overlooked as a result. Not to mention that 2015 was also the year of massive blockbusters "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Jurassic World," and "Avengers: Age of Ultron," along with Pixar's brilliantly unique — and massively successful — spin on the coming-of-age genre with "Inside Out." In other words, "Paper Towns" didn't have much of a chance to find its intended audience. 

And that's a shame, since it's a really great coming-of-age dramedy about childhood friends — Quentin Jacobsen (Nat Wolff) and Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne) — who have grown apart and into vastly different social circles. But Quentin still maintains the crush he always had on Margo, and gets the opportunity to finally act on it when a series of events brings the two estranged pals back into each other's orbits once again. But then Margo runs away, leaving clues to where she has gone specifically for Quentin. This leads Quentin to naturally assume that Margo wants him to come find her, though the truth might not be quite so simple. Whether the answers that await Quentin at the end of the journey are the ones he wanted take a backseat to the journey itself, and how Quentin comes to learn and grow as a result. 

"Almost Famous" might initially seem to have only the most tenuous connection to "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." But on top of being written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who doesn't have to prove his coming-of-age bona fides, "Almost Famous" is another journey by a shy, introverted kid into a world of adventure where he might initially seem to be out of his element — only he's got a lot of generous people willing to show him that he belongs more than he thinks.

Loosely based on Crowe's own experiences breaking into the world of music journalism, "Almost Famous" focuses on Crowe stand-in and aspiring writer William Miller (Patrick Fugit). William manages to talk his way into being assigned the job of traveling with a rock band called Stillwater, who are both at the height of their fame and also on the verge of imploding. William finds himself spending the bulk of his time with the band's entourage, consisting of "band aids" — a polite word for what the audience understands to be groupies — who both deflower the innocent young man but also make him realize that he is way cooler than he ever would have suspected. 

It might be a bigger journey than the average teenager ever goes on, but the lessons about growing up and finding your place in the world — or carving out a new one to fit you — are no different than any other movie that is about nothing more than school dances and yearbook clubs.