Dear Readers,

Based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda written by Becky Albertalli, the movie adaption, Love Simon, follows the story of a 17 year old boy, who learns about himself and what it means to fall in love. Love Simon brings laughter, joy, and tears to the audience as they tag along for a rollercoaster ride of hilarious but life changing moments in Simon Spier’s life.

For Simon Spier, life is great. He is a typical teenger who has one secret: he’s gay and he hasn’t told his parents or friends. Unlike many movies with queer characters, the main conflict in Love Simon isn’t “how will this poor tortured homosexual live his poor tortured life?,” it’s whether Simon can accept himself and move confidently into his adult life as a gay man.

This movie isn’t particularly quirky or deep; it’s predictable, the characters are fairly thinly drawn, and both cheese and corn make their presence known. Were you wondering whether this movie has both a huge teen house party and a big emotional speech at a football game? It does!

Yet, despite these tropes, this a great movie to watch with family and friends — Grandma and Grandpa, too. Everyone in the room would be captivated by the appealing actors, the relatable romance and teen angst, and the gentle messages about kindness, acceptance, and love.

In this movie, Simon’s gayness is front and center, right from first line of dialogue. The spotlight on Simon is refreshing in it’s predictability. The relationship of straight and gay people are portrayed with equal parts of normalness. As a result, the straight relationship drama between Nick, Leah, Abby, and Martin veers into lazy cliche at times, a consequence of the film not developing their relationships with each other as much as their relationships with Simon. That said, choosing to keep the focus on Simon’s coming out and his relationship with Blue is one of Love, Simon’s biggest strengths. It’s a forgivable side effect of the film knowing which character and whose story is most important.

Overall, Love Simon accurately depicts highschool life and drama. It delivers a heart-warming story of self-identity and first love that anyone will find relatable even if not everybody falls in love with an anonymous classmate named ‘Blue’ online.

Sincerely,

Rating: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐