Love, Simon is a coming out story based on the novel Simon v. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.
A hilarious romantic comedy, Love, Simon is centered around Simon Spier, a closeted gay teenager living in suburban Atlanta. The movie follows Simon and his attempt to balance friends, family, and blackmail. On top of this, Simon tries to find the identity of the fellow classmate (which pen name is “Blue”) he has fallen in love with online. While emailing “Blue”, a fellow classmate Marvin finds the emails and screenshots them. He then threatens Simon into helping him date one of Simon’s friends or else he will spill the secret to a tell-all blog.
Simon personifies the struggles faced by gay teenagers in modern America. His journey represents that of thousands of people that are afraid to come out and be themselves and gives hope to those people as they come to grips with their own sexuality. Many of the people in the audience at the movie theater erupted into cheers when Simon finally met his love interest.
With beautiful scenery as well as astounding music, the overall aesthetic of Love, Simon left audiences breathless. More than one time, I found myself tearing up at a meaningful moment between Simon’s friends and family. At another time, laughing about teenage banter between Simon and his friends.
The meticulous development of the characters also made the movie incredibly enjoyable. I found myself rooting for Simon, and the mystery kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time. The movie wasn’t a cliche, it demanded attention about the struggle of being gay, and I would highly recommend giving it watch.
