This movie includes a twist on high school love stories.
Love, Simon, which was released midway through March, is about Simon, a 17-year-old boy, who is hiding the fact that he is gay from his family and friends. In the movie, Simon is sending and receiving emails from an anonymous person who is in the same situation as him. When Simon’s schoolmate, Martin, finds these emails, he begins to blackmail Simon.
Love, Simon is an upbeat, entertaining movie, but throughout the movie there were many parts that seemed forced and unrealistic for a high school setting. The two bullies in the movie pulled unoriginal stunts, which would very rarely be seen in an everyday high school. The movie also contained a large number of clichés, like Simon’s parents, who have had a fairytale relationship ever since they met in high school. Another issue I had was when Simon gets angry with Martin for outing him, but he had the whole school watch him as he waited on the Ferris wheel for his anonymous online friend to meet him. Simon basically also outed his internet friend, Blue, for him, even though his friend expressed his fears of coming out, which seemed a little hypocritical to me.
Now for the positives.
This movie was playful and endearing, and it was very entertaining to see Simon grow and learn. I liked how the movie had more focus than just Simon’s relationship troubles, and also included his friend’s love triangle. The movie focused on a parallel to a Ferris wheel quote, and it was interesting to see how the directors kept that involvement throughout the movie. The topic of the movie spreads awareness of the everyday events that LGBTQ people struggle with, and goes inside of the mind of a gay teen in the modern world. Audience members got to experience a full on version of how family and friends can react, and the difficulties that many people go through to keep their sexuality a secret. This romantic comedy toyed with the heartstrings of the audience, and as the movie progressed, it was a struggle to keep tears in. The movie was a much needed awakening for people around the world, and many people used this movie as a place for them to come out to their families. Movies like Love, Simon help to normalize differences of individuals, and influences others to be understanding and tolerant.