Love, Simon (2018)
Director:
Greg Berlanti
Starring:
Nick Robinson
Jennifer Garner
Josh Duhamel
Katherine Langford
Alexandra Shipp
Jorge Lendeborg Jr.
Keiynan Lonsdale
Plot:
Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends, and all of his classmates: he’s gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
Review:
This movie…oh my god. This is a new favorite. I was so not expecting the absolute sweetness and all around beauty of this movie. What in the world is happening that I have now found two high school romance movies that I love? The world has gone mad!
Simon, Nick Robinson, is a normal teenage boy. He has a core set of friends he’s very close with, his family loves and supports him and he loves and supports them, and he lives an average upper middle class, probably actually upper class, life. Except he’s got a secret, he’s gay. He’s told no one, even though he doesn’t believe any of the people that matter will care, it’s not something he wants to share. He’s afraid it will change how people think of him and that’s honestly so relatable and heartbreaking.
One of my favorite romance tropes is falling in love with an anonymous person through their letters and Love, Simon does this perfectly. It takes it a step further, though, and raises the stakes. Simon’s emails are discovered by another student who then blackmails him. I wanted to destroy the kid that was doing this and for once I could understand and empathize with the angsty teenage motivation behind awkward encounters.
Love, Simon is an amazing high school romantic comedy that I would highly recommend to anyone that loves romances. It’s sweet, fun, and fills me with all kinds of warm happy emotions.
5/5