Love, Simon (2018)

Directed by: Greg Berlanti | 110 minutes | comedy, drama | Actors: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Logan Miller, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Talitha Eliana Bateman, Tony Hale, Natasha Rothwell, Miles Heizer, Joey Pollari, Clark Moore, Drew Starkey, Mackenzie Lintz, Cassady McClincy, Alex Sgambati, Jamila Thompson, Emily Jordan, Patrick Donohue

However progressive Hollywood pretends to be, homosexuality is still very forced. Although there has been a clear shift in smaller, independent productions such as ‘Milk’ (2008), ‘Moonlight’ (2016) and ‘Call Me by Your Name’ (2017), thank goodness, gays and lesbians in major Hollywood productions are still condemned to roles in the margins. Like the eccentric bird of paradise, the gay best friend or the fake cousin for example. And if they do play a big role, their sexuality is made a huge issue. You rarely if ever see an LGBTQI character in teen films, while we are no longer surprised by people with a sexual preference that deviates from the average. Director Greg Berlanti thought it was high time for a film that primarily focuses on teenagers and young adults, in which a homosexual character is introduced to love, without making a big deal about his orientation. When he finished Becky Albertalli’s novel ‘Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda’ was exactly the story he needed. And so ‘Love, Simon’ (2018) became the first major teen film to star a gay character.

Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) is a boy like so many. The 17-year-old has many friends, a loving family and everything his heart desires. However, he has one big secret: he hasn’t informed anyone yet that he likes boys. Then his eye falls on an anonymous blog on his school’s website, in which a boy who calls himself ‘Blue’ comes out. Simon feels a connection with this boy and decides to send him a message, under the pseudonym ‘Jacques’, to say that he recognizes himself in Blue’s story. The two develop a candid and intensive e-mail contact and Simon, meanwhile, wonders which of his schoolmates is behind that mysterious pseudonym. He hides his online romance from his friends Leah (Katherine Langford), Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) and Abbey (Alexandra Shipp). But when one day he leaves his computer unattended, without closing his mailbox, classmate Martin (Logan Miller) discovers clandestine mail traffic with Blue and decides to use that knowledge as a blackmail tool. Simon is willing to do anything to keep his secret to himself.

For that scoop alone, Love, Simon is a groundbreaking film. But Berlanti’s film is much more than that. The film sparkles thanks to a good dose of warmth and humor, without losing the emotional impact that a first love has on a teenager like Simon. Fortunately, the fact that he is gay is not really made a problem; his parents (Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner) and friends are standing behind him anyway. The world in which Simon grows up is a very warm nest anyway, with sweet teenagers who don’t have to be afraid of being puked by their schoolmates. Then why does Simon keep his feelings so jealously secret, you wonder? He is especially afraid of changes in his life and that is a universal fear, especially among teenagers. Because he would prefer that it always stay the way it is now, he keeps putting off his coming-out. The young Nick Robinson credibly portrays Simon, on the one hand excited from all the tension surrounding that blossoming virtual romance, on the other vulnerable and insecure. He has no trouble getting us viewers to empathize with him. The other roles are also excellent, with Katherine Langford, Jennifer Garner and Natasha Rothwell as Simon’s outspoken music teacher Ms. Albright in front.

Where ‘Love, Simon’ also excels is its play with perspective. Berlanti takes the starting point of gays as a starting point and turns it around: why don’t straight people have to come out, Simon wonders. He then imagines his friends reluctantly admitting to their parents that they like the opposite sex. Love, Simon is full of those kinds of perspective changes and funny details. Yes, sometimes it is all a bit tacky, but in this genre you often can’t escape that. But in execution, this film easily surpasses its ‘competitors’. The film is genuinely heartwarming and thanks to the lifelike and sympathetic characters, every willing film viewer is sucked into the story and Simon’s environment without any effort. A night of old-fashioned swooning with a boy who is in love, who wouldn’t want that?