Like many great teen movies of the era, the film expertly utilizes the conventions and archetypes of teen movies to tell a dynamic story that goes beyond the petty drama and gossip of teenage life. While many coming-of-age fantasy movies find strength in loosely adapting and recreating the timeless fairy tale coming-of-age stories of old, it's especially rare for a fully original modern fantasy film to recreate the inherent magic and timeless charm of those original fairy tales. Though Stephen Chbosky's 2021 film Dear Evan Hansen certainly doesn't rank as one of the great coming-of-age movies, his 2012 film The Perks of Being a Wallflower certainly does.