As with Wonder Woman or Black Panther, I don't really feel qualified to discuss Love, Simon in terms of its landmark status for the LGBT community. Director Greg Berlanti's coming-of-age story is the first mainstream romance centered on a young gay man, and it has the potential to reach audiences that Moonlight and Call Me By Your Name could not (just to use a few recent examples). As evidenced by the Twitter response from fans, this is more than just a movie for a lot of people. It's a chance to see themselves on the big screen, it's an opportunity to reflect on their own coming out experiences, and it's a time for celebration. While it's not nearly on the scale of something like Black Panther (a gay superhero is still another roadblock for Hollywood), there's no denying the importance of Love, Simon. It's a movie we need, and for a lot of people, its ultimate quality was going to be a moot point.
But luckily, Love, Simon isn't just an "important" movie- it's also a pretty great teen flick. Our protagonist is the titular Simon (Nick Robinson), and by all accounts, he's a very average, normal suburban kid. He has two loving parents (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel), a sister (Talitha Bateman) that he "actually likes," and a tight-knit trio of friends- Leah (Katherine Langford), Nick (Jorge Lendeborg), and Abby (Alexandra Shipp). But there's just one problem in Simon's life- he's gay and he hasn't told anyone. Simon is slowly coming to terms with himself, but that process is sped up when he learns that there's another closeted gay kid at his high school. He begins a correspondence with this mysterious, nameless teen, and he quickly falls for him. But when the manipulative Martin (Logan Miller) learns the big secret, he'll force the panicked Simon to create a convoluted web of lies. However, he can only hide his true self for so long, and he'll eventually have to show the world who he really is.
It's rare for a movie to create a feeling of instant skepticism from me, but that's precisely what Love, Simon did. For all that this movie does extremely well, I don't think it has a very good grasp of how teenagers actually act and behave. In its quest to portray normality and cheery suburban bliss, Berlanti and screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker fail to initially portray the "average" lives of modern high school students. And I should know- I graduated less than a year ago. Love, Simon seems to think that all teenagers are these happy creatures who love spending time with their friends and drinking iced coffee and eating carbs and......yeah, that's all wrong. Superficiality is a strategy, but nobody in high school is that "normal." Everyone is either depressed or stressed or utterly exhausted or a combination of all three. In this regard, the film is frustratingly one-dimensional.
Love, Simon's unrelenting positivity and sweetness is off-putting at first, and it never really does manage to capture what high school is like in the 2010s. But what feels aggressively cutesy in the opening minutes eventually evolves into something that's so genuine and good-natured that it's hard not to fall for it. There are some issues that come with the basic narrative setup- Love, Simon basically treats its lead character's sexuality as a plot device for much of the runtime, forcing him to jump through hoops and betray his closest friends in order to maintain this secret. But if the film's primary focus is its big, bleeding heart and glorious sense of optimism, the contrivances of the story feel like a reminder of how much cruelty there can be among teenagers, especially when someone is different from everyone else. The fact that this movie exists is a signal of how far we've come, but Simon's ordeal is proof of how far there is to go.
Nonetheless, the game between Simon and Martin ultimately collapses, leaving nothing but pure, unadulterated emotion. Love, Simon delivers knockout punches at a rapid rate, scenes that have the potential to turn anyone into a puddle. What initially feels engineered and manipulative eventually coheres into something genuine and moving, as heartwarming and quietly touching as any teen movie in recent memory. After dips into forced plot mechanics and a fully utopian view of high school, the optimism of Love, Simon no longer rings false. As Simon comes out, the film's sweetness and kindness becomes its greatest asset, demonstrating a stunning degree of emotional honesty. What Berlanti lacks in flash, he more than makes up for in storytelling skill and precision, as he carries this film through its numerous character-centric beats with remarkable ease. It's a story that flows naturally, drawing its audience in closer and closer every step of the way.
The cast is also hugely beneficial to the movie's cause, treating this story with the care and sense of importance that it deserves. Nick Robinson, already a breakout star thanks to Jurassic World and last year's Everything, Everything, does great work as Simon, finding both the cautious reserve and clever humanity in our tortured protagonist. Robinson had a lot riding on him here- if he doesn't pull off the role, the movie doesn't work. Thankfully, Robinson is up to the task, and he has plenty of backup from a great supporting crew. 13 Reasons Why's Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, and Jorge Lendeborg create a strong mixture of empathy and frustration as Simon's best friends, while veteran performers like Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner deliver some of the film's most memorable moments.
For all of its sunny adolescent ideals and unrealistically peppy teenagers (seriously, everyone in high school is stressed, anxious, or both, I cannot emphasize this enough), Love, Simon more than earns its bold optimism. It delves into intense territory without ever resorting to tragedy, and while its basic narrative could have felt preposterous and needlessly convoluted, Berlanti and the crew handle it with the honesty and delicacy it desperately needs. Love, Simon is the kind of film that slowly wins you over, and by the time it reached its uplifting conclusion, I was fully engrossed. It's a coming-of-age story with pathos and a sly edge, and perhaps most importantly, it has the potential to change lives for young people struggling with their sexuality. We're seeing real strides in quality representation on the big screen this year, and Love, Simon is another crucial, moving step forward.
THE FINAL GRADE: B+ (7.8/10)
Images courtesy of 20th Century Fox
But luckily, Love, Simon isn't just an "important" movie- it's also a pretty great teen flick. Our protagonist is the titular Simon (Nick Robinson), and by all accounts, he's a very average, normal suburban kid. He has two loving parents (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel), a sister (Talitha Bateman) that he "actually likes," and a tight-knit trio of friends- Leah (Katherine Langford), Nick (Jorge Lendeborg), and Abby (Alexandra Shipp). But there's just one problem in Simon's life- he's gay and he hasn't told anyone. Simon is slowly coming to terms with himself, but that process is sped up when he learns that there's another closeted gay kid at his high school. He begins a correspondence with this mysterious, nameless teen, and he quickly falls for him. But when the manipulative Martin (Logan Miller) learns the big secret, he'll force the panicked Simon to create a convoluted web of lies. However, he can only hide his true self for so long, and he'll eventually have to show the world who he really is.
It's rare for a movie to create a feeling of instant skepticism from me, but that's precisely what Love, Simon did. For all that this movie does extremely well, I don't think it has a very good grasp of how teenagers actually act and behave. In its quest to portray normality and cheery suburban bliss, Berlanti and screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker fail to initially portray the "average" lives of modern high school students. And I should know- I graduated less than a year ago. Love, Simon seems to think that all teenagers are these happy creatures who love spending time with their friends and drinking iced coffee and eating carbs and......yeah, that's all wrong. Superficiality is a strategy, but nobody in high school is that "normal." Everyone is either depressed or stressed or utterly exhausted or a combination of all three. In this regard, the film is frustratingly one-dimensional.
Love, Simon's unrelenting positivity and sweetness is off-putting at first, and it never really does manage to capture what high school is like in the 2010s. But what feels aggressively cutesy in the opening minutes eventually evolves into something that's so genuine and good-natured that it's hard not to fall for it. There are some issues that come with the basic narrative setup- Love, Simon basically treats its lead character's sexuality as a plot device for much of the runtime, forcing him to jump through hoops and betray his closest friends in order to maintain this secret. But if the film's primary focus is its big, bleeding heart and glorious sense of optimism, the contrivances of the story feel like a reminder of how much cruelty there can be among teenagers, especially when someone is different from everyone else. The fact that this movie exists is a signal of how far we've come, but Simon's ordeal is proof of how far there is to go.
Nonetheless, the game between Simon and Martin ultimately collapses, leaving nothing but pure, unadulterated emotion. Love, Simon delivers knockout punches at a rapid rate, scenes that have the potential to turn anyone into a puddle. What initially feels engineered and manipulative eventually coheres into something genuine and moving, as heartwarming and quietly touching as any teen movie in recent memory. After dips into forced plot mechanics and a fully utopian view of high school, the optimism of Love, Simon no longer rings false. As Simon comes out, the film's sweetness and kindness becomes its greatest asset, demonstrating a stunning degree of emotional honesty. What Berlanti lacks in flash, he more than makes up for in storytelling skill and precision, as he carries this film through its numerous character-centric beats with remarkable ease. It's a story that flows naturally, drawing its audience in closer and closer every step of the way.
The cast is also hugely beneficial to the movie's cause, treating this story with the care and sense of importance that it deserves. Nick Robinson, already a breakout star thanks to Jurassic World and last year's Everything, Everything, does great work as Simon, finding both the cautious reserve and clever humanity in our tortured protagonist. Robinson had a lot riding on him here- if he doesn't pull off the role, the movie doesn't work. Thankfully, Robinson is up to the task, and he has plenty of backup from a great supporting crew. 13 Reasons Why's Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, and Jorge Lendeborg create a strong mixture of empathy and frustration as Simon's best friends, while veteran performers like Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner deliver some of the film's most memorable moments.
For all of its sunny adolescent ideals and unrealistically peppy teenagers (seriously, everyone in high school is stressed, anxious, or both, I cannot emphasize this enough), Love, Simon more than earns its bold optimism. It delves into intense territory without ever resorting to tragedy, and while its basic narrative could have felt preposterous and needlessly convoluted, Berlanti and the crew handle it with the honesty and delicacy it desperately needs. Love, Simon is the kind of film that slowly wins you over, and by the time it reached its uplifting conclusion, I was fully engrossed. It's a coming-of-age story with pathos and a sly edge, and perhaps most importantly, it has the potential to change lives for young people struggling with their sexuality. We're seeing real strides in quality representation on the big screen this year, and Love, Simon is another crucial, moving step forward.
THE FINAL GRADE: B+ (7.8/10)
Images courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Comments
Post a Comment