Love, Simon

Plot: Simon (Nick Robinson) is in high school, and he has a good life. He has friends who like him, an intact family, a sister who cooks him breakfast, a computer, a car, a phone and a fancy house. His problem, to the extent it is a problem, is that he is a closeted gay guy. That is his "huge ass secret." Simon starts anonymously emailing another closeted student in his school, and soon he depends on the email  for emotional support. In time another student, Martin (Logan Miller) finds out and blackmails Simon. Blackmail leads to the predictable consequences, and this sets up the final scenes.   [imdb]    [photos]

Review: I liked Love, Simon because I liked the relationships between the four students, Simon, Leah (Katherine Langford), Abby (Alexandra Shipp) and Bram (Keiynon Lendeborg). The relationship is positive and the dialog pulls out the strains inside Simon with other peers. The dialog is light and humorous with a some sitcom jokes and PG-13 humor.

Love Simon has a message, but it is softly pedaled. I was expecting another Brokeback Mountain, but in Love, Simon the romantic relationship is all in a chat window.

Jennifer Garner, playing Simon's Mom, has a great scene at the end talking about what Simon means to her. Emotive. It does a nice job of setting the outing in context, and helps resolve the relationships in the family. There is scene with the father, played by Josh Duhamel, which is OK, kinda sappy.

Overall, I liked it. 

Cast: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Keiynon Lendeborg, Jennifer Garner

Directed by: Greg Berlanti, who has made a lot of TV superhero shows, Supergirl, The Flash, my favorite Arrow, and more. 

Written by: Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker based on the novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

The Music: Good soundtrack. Four songs by the Bleachers and some other pop + HipHop. There is also traditional orchestral music by Rob Simonsen. 

The Visuals: Mostly people talking. The final scene on a ferris wheel is filmed simply, as if on a budget.  

Rating: 2.5 stars: Fun to watch, with a message but not preachy.

 

More: Director Berlanti felt emotional watching the dailies while making the film. "I went to look back at the footage, and I stopped watching it very quickly as a director and started to watch it as an openly gay person. And crying in happy scenes and wondering, 'Why am I emotional?' And showing it to my friends who are also gay, and seeing them have the same kind of [reaction]. I think it was just the power of representation."

Even More: Alexandra Ship played Storm in X-Men Apocalypse. The other young actors have  much less experience.

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