Review of Alex Strangelove (2018) by Gregory M — 12 Jun 2018

This movie is such a mess! I cannot see how some people can compare it to "Love, Simon". "Alex Strangelove" is a teenage drama about coming in terms with your sexuality. I respect it for that, but sadly it doesn't work.

It feels like its written from people that have no idea what it is like to be a gay kid in high school. The dialogues felt kinda forced and actually the whole idea collapsed. You know why? Because the way the story was developing at first had you consider that maybe we are for the first time talking about a bisexual teen.

But no, they decided, last minute, that our protagonist is full on gay. It wouldn't be so bad, but then again, I swear it felt so unnatural! And because of that it reduced the girlfriend character into a trope I would like to see disappear from these storylines.

It is not necessary to create drama for a plot, to have a girl's heart crushed because a boy used her to hide his gayness. We need more original content than that. "Alex Strangelove" has a good intention, but honestly it's an unsatisfying attempt to create a queer teen movie.

I'm still very positive that only the European cinema has managed to tackle movies with queer themes best. The American cinema still treats it like a taboo. Not with much honesty and pride. Kinda like behind a semi-open closet door.