The book follows Charlie writing a multitude of letters to an unidentified friend and the film starts off narrated by Charlie (Lerman).
In the film, Charlie starts high school a recluse but not of his own choice, he's dealing with two traumatic events: the suicide of his friend Michael the year before and the death of his favorite Aunt Helen when he was seven. Charlie is in advanced English and easily connects with his English teacher Mr. Anderson (Rudd) but has trouble to do so with anyone else. Charlie still has trouble fitting in, until he meets Patrick (Miller) and his stepsister Sam (Watson). Charlie bonds with Patrick and Sam and soon joins their group of friends or as Sam refers to them as "misfit toys". On their way home after the party, the trio hear a song on the radio they are unfamiliar with and Sam tells Patrick to turn it up and drive through the tunnel, while she stands in the back of the pickup while the music blasts, and Charlie says,"I feel infinite." Things go swimmingly for a while, the group have several other social activities a couple where Charlie is introduced to the world of drugs. Charlie helps Sam study for the SAT's and as a result at a Secret Santa Christmas party she gets him a typewriter as he wants to be a writer and she has typed "Write about us" which is the first thing she and Patrick told him when he said he wanted to be a writer but he didn't know what to write about, and he typed back "I will." Charlie shares his first kiss with Sam who is already involved with someone else but wants Charlie to have his first kiss be with someone who loves him, as her's wasn't, she was taken advantage of. Sam, Patrick and their friends work as performers for the Rocky Horror Picture Show Performance, and Charlie has to fill in for Sam's boyfriend Craig who is a no show, this leads to Mary Elizabeth (Whitman) asking Charlie to the Sadie Hawkins Dance and later leads to a relationship between the two even though Charlie is still very much in love with Sam. Charlie soon grows irritated and moody by the situation and is only in the relationship to avoid hurting Mary Elizabeth's feelings. Charlie is dared to kiss the most beautiful girl in the room and instead of kissing his girlfriend Mary Elizabeth, he kisses Sam which upsets both girls. This makes for an even bigger mess, Patrick tells Charlie he should stay away for awhile, this causes Charlie's depression to return and he experiences flashbacks of his Aunt Helen. Charlie becomes friends with Patrick and Sam again when he defends Patrick from his closeted boyfriend and his friends by blacking out and disabling them, then warning them, "Touch my friends again, and I'll blind you."
Sam is accepted to Penn State, and breaks up with her boyfriend Craig after she learns he's been cheating on her. The night before she's set to leave she asks Charlie, "Why do I and everyone I love pick people who treat us like we're nothing?" and Charlie responds, "We accept the love we think we deserve." the advice he received from Mr. Anderson as he had asked him why as well in the beginning of the film. They even kiss again but when Sam touches his thigh Charlie experiences a flashback of his Aunt Helen which he ignores. After Sam leaves though, Charlie's mental health and state deteriorate and he has more flashbacks. Charlie even goes as far as calling his sister (Dobrev) and blaming himself for their aunt's death because he wished for it to happen. His sister realizes he is unstable and calls the police. Charlie passes out when they burst through the door and he wakes up in the hospital. It is revealed that he repressed memories of his aunt sexually abusing him. With much therapy, Charlie recovers and returns home. He is visited by Sam and Patrick. Sam tells him about college life and reveals she has identified the song from the tunnel. They go for a ride, this time Charlie standing in the back of the pickup. Charlie kisses Sam and admits he feels alive and declares, "We are infinite."
I found the characters to be very complex. There was just so much going on, on paper and on the screen. It was a whirlwind. This film felt like a montage, it was condensed down to the major parts and most books that become major pictures are, but this one was done in a way that didn't feel like it missed anything too important. I think the fact that the author of the book wrote the screenplay and directed it as well may have something to do with it.
I always prefer the book over the movie, but in this particular case I don't prefer one over the other. The movie feels like an added extension of the book and I think it's because the author had that same vision of which he wrote the book.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was easy to get caught up in and feel what the characters were feeling and really think about the inner turmoil of the main protagonist, in this case, Charlie. This film was just so nicely done, a beautiful addition to the book.
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