Movies / Home Theatre

Love, Simon (2018)

By Hervé St-Louis
June 5, 2022 - 10:17

High school student Simon know that he is gay and secretly longs for the day where he can reveal his secret to the world and maybe find companionship. He does that when he starts an online pen pal relationship with “Blue” who is also a closeted gay teen at the same school. Simon starts to imagine and fall in love with this pen pal but before long, his life and secrets are used by another boy at the school to blackmail him. Will this threaten to reveal his secret to the world and make Blue disappear from his life?

Like other film in the gay teen genre, this film deals with first relationships and coming out, sometimes forcefully. It is an American story the likes of which will be used as a reference for years by gay teens, educators, and parents to provide a positive outlook on life for kids, educating them. As such, it also fits the typical teen flick romance comedy genre well and thus achieves its goals at humanizing a situation for a large part of society. I felt like that the love story was forced and it would have been better to treat it as an infatuation. Simon  (Nick Robinson) was ready to fall in love with juts about any boy at his school.

You will laugh as the tropes are like those used in sitcoms with heavy doses of misunderstandings. This movie’s aim is to normalize gay teens and romance. There is a lot of pathos, especially when Simon betrays his friends. The movie’s aim also wants to show that homosexuality is widely accepted, even though some people still don’t know how to deal with it. It updates older films such as Beautiful Thing and Get Real with Hollywood budget, and major talent. It’s amazing that such project is still needed. The DVD includes many extras which provide understanding on why the producers felt this film was needed. Love, Simon is based on a popular novel by Becky Albertalli.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12