Love, Simon (2018)

Here we go, another novel adapted to a screenplay… and for once I’m sure this wasn’t a mistake.

Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) lives a normal life, as he tells us right at the start of this film. He has a happy home life, with his mum (Jennifer Garner), his dad (Josh Duhamel) and his sister Nora (Talitha Bateman). He has a great group of friends, who he has been friends with for years Nick, and Leah, and his new found friend Abby (Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Katherine Lagford, and Alexandra Shipp) and is the guy everyone likes, generally. However, he has a secret that he has been keeping from all of these people, and the rest of the world – he’s gay.

He connects with someone online, because of a reveal on their school blog, type website, and finally he can open up to someone and he feels a that a burden has been lifted, and for the first time, is allowed to feel what he wants to despite keeping the truth bottled up. Another person finds out about his emails to his ‘pen-pal’, Blue – and all hell breaks loose. He has to choose between what is right, and what is easy whilst putting all of these brilliant relationships, and his perfect life on the line.

First things first, I think the producer for this film was a solid match. As someone who is openly gay, Greg Berlanti had this. There was such a personal element that was felt throughout this film, it was really just spot on. I mean, I am not gay, but it was almost like films about people who loose family members to cnacer, you can relate on some level. Anything involving how much respect is deserved by those within the LGBTQ+ community is something I live for. That is a community I comfortably assosciate myself as a part of, and this film - in particular how Simon dealt with everything about his situation filled me with masses of warmth.

The emphasis on this should definitely be how his support networks were written in to this. Don’t get me wrong, like always, this is an over perfect, ideal kind of result. What are the chances of things ever panning out this way? But come on, it’s fictional, and it got shit for a little while for Simon, because we’re humans and we all mess up because we are a selfish species… But then we manage to bring it back in after some wallowing and consistent apologising. 

This film really focused on how awful things can be, and how imperfect romance really is, and that’s what I liked about it. Oh, I’m also a sucker for a happy ending.

The cast were responsible for SO MUCH SUCCESS IN THIS. What an absolute gem Nick Robinson is. His performance was fantastically multi-layered and ticked all of the boxes. He was able to turn on his charm when needed, demonstrate that Simon needed to hide his emotions at times, was able to be funny and easy going, and when it came down to it really go for it and pull on the old heartstrings of the audience. I felt connected with Simon, and his group of friends. Such moving performances from such generally young cast. Credit, where credit is due.  

The editing in this was perfect. It was well paced, it was upbeat, and it adjusted to what was going on where it needed to in the story. The script was spot on, we got a sweet dose of knowledge every now and then, and really got to know everyone enough that the film wasn’t filled with pure fluff, but didn’t leave you lost expecting more.

The score was brilliantly selected, suiting so many different moods, and genuinely kept me smiling, and again helped with the pacing, and with helping you feel connected to the characters we were learning about and watching.

This film was about a young boy coming out as gay, but it was also about the struggles of being a teenager. This was a decent ‘coming of age’ rom-com. Any topical humour that was thrown in, was not offensive, it was funny. It didn’t change my opinion on any one person, or group of people. It didn’t make me cringe, it wasn’t a bunch of kids being badly portrayed, it felt real. The level of thought put into this production is what made it a success. The obvious chunks of personality, and personal experience and feeling that have clearly gone into its creation have made it one of my favourite films of 2018, so far.



Definitely a must-see. Like I said, I’m not gay, but its inoffensive, heart-warming and SO worth the watch. I’m ready to see this again.

7.5/10

CINEMATES - S