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Review: Love, Simon

Nick Robinson and Katherine Langford


Director: Greg Berlanti
Screenwriters: Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker (based on the novel by Becky Albertalli)
Starring: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual references, language, and teen partying
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Theatrical Release Date: March 16, 2018
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%



 Clip: "Why Is Straight the Default?"



Love, Simon is a coming-of-age rom-com tailor-made for 21st-century teenagers.  And it just so happens that it's the first one that features a gay lead.  Based on the best-selling YA adult by Becky Albertalli, Simon directed by Greg Berlanti, who spearheads CW shows such as Arrow and The Flash, and written by This Is Us scribes Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker. Berlanti, Berger, and Aptaker bring numerous pop culture and political references, which certainly helps to appeal to its target audience (high schoolers/teenage-age individuals), but they would most likely have seen the movie regardless. 

 Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) plays Simon, a handsome, likable teenager with a quirky, close of groups, including 13 Reason's Why's Katherine Langford as Simon's best friend, Leah.  In the opening voice-over, he explains how his life is seemingly "normal," though with his high school-sweetheart parents (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel) and his budding chef sister, it could even be considered to be better than so-called "normal."  What makes him different, he says, is that he's gay and nobody knows.  When Simon starts emailing with another closeted gay kid from his school, who posted a confession on school gossip site Craig's Secrets, the two fall in love, despite not knowing what each other look like or who they are.  Part of the fun -- and also, at times, the heartbreak -- is trying to figure out who this mysterious "Blue" (Simon's email buddy's alias) is.  And when Blue is finally revealed, it is someone of a shock, but is handled so believably that their eventual meet-up is earned.  

 This isn't the first time an internet romance has been portrayed on the big screen -- remember Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail? (also, remember AOL?) -- but certainly the first time a gay one has been portrayed.  While there are no real dangers to Simon coming out, he worries out it nonetheless.  In one brilliant segment, Simon wonders why "straight is the default," as heterosexual characters come out to their parents, who burst into tears, appear shocked, etc. -- reactions typically expected of parents of non-heterosexual individuals.  In another fantasy sequence, Simon imagines being out and proud in college.  He has posters on the wall of attractive male celebrities, and dances with his classmates.  But then, he says, "not that gay."   

 Simon is, at times, laugh-out-loud funny, thanks to clever, fully-realized characters such as Tony Hale's eccentric (is there anybody better than Hale at playing an eccentric character?) Vice Principal and Logan Miller as the equally quixotic friend who blackmails Simon into a relationship with his pretty friend (Alexandra Shipp).  Robinson is solid in the lead role, and moves the audience through the range of emotions that Simon experiences.  He manages the tricky balancing act of emoting enough to be believable but also giving him enough subtlety.    

 I'm not to ashamed to say that this movie made me cry, as rom-coms are not wont to cause me to do, as of late.  Simon's heartwarming conversations with his friends and parents, upon his secret being discovered, are definitely expected and sort of hackneyed.  But, because it is an LGBT story, it is different yet handled with enough grace to earn those tears.  




Grade: A-
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