Review of Love, Simon (2018) by Matthew D — 20 Apr 2018

A beautiful modern love story for anyone.

Love, Simon is the best, teen drama movie to come out in a long time.

Director Greg Berlanti has made a personable, relatable, and realistic coming of age drama that teenagers and adults alike shall be able to empathize with regardless of your sexuality, age, or gender.

Love, Simon is a groundbreaking story of a gay teenager named Simon Spier who is struggling to come out and accept how he feels. The very existence of Simon's character gives modern, homosexual teens not only a character they can relate with, but also, a good role model to look up to as well. Love, Simon fits in nicely with the new wave of contemporary LGBTQ cinema in the likes of Blue Is the Warmest Color, Carol, Moonlight, Call Me by Your Name, and the upcoming Disobedience.

Berlanti directed a tale bound in believable circumstances and universal themes. Love, Simon is a smashing success of focused direction and emotional drama. You believe in these characters' feelings, fears, and interests. They are realistic because they are grounded in the verisimilitude of their thoughts and actions. You could easily imagine a high school experience like the one depicted in Love, Simon.

I have to commend the entire cast of Love, Simon for their excellent performances. In particular, I love how subtle Nick Robinson plays Simon. He emotes very deeply, while not overacting at any point. Robinson comes across as quite likable. He is clearly the star and he shines as brightly as you would hope. You see Robinson display a wide range of emotion convincingly. He has to be reserved, uncertain, pained, while simultaneously conveying Simon's loving nature. Robinson is incredible acting as Simon. I look forward to more roles from him.

Additionally, I should shout out the strong supporting cast. Katherine Langford is adorable as Simon's best friend Leah. Tony Hale is absolutely hilarious as the vice principal in his highly enjoyable comedy relief role. I greatly appreciated Simon's mother and father characters, played by Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel, respectively. They are very expressive without having to say a lot. I believe them wholeheartedly caring parents that could exist today. They portray modern parents trying to connect with their kids very well. Love, Simon brings to life complex contemporary characters with a sublimely talented cast.

Love, Simon's cinematography is notably quite gorgeous. You are equally impressed by the shots of this suburban neighborhood as you are of the lovely still shots in homes. Love, Simon meticulously recreates the high school experience from classrooms, lunch, libraries, fields, to commuting to school. There are plenty of emotionally charged close ups with really neat uses of far away establishing shots to show a character in the distance. I now look forward to Greg Berlanti's future feature films based solely on the strength of Love, Simon's careful direction.

I must mention the stellar soundtrack to Love, Simon. Jack Antonoff is the perfect choice to compile modern indie rock and contemporary pop music for the movie. Antonoff blends the old classics in with fresh new songs that really feel like music actual teenagers might enjoy. It ups the pace of the film, while adding to its realness. I was pleasantly surprised to hear a myriad of cool selections that complement Love, Simon's tone and themes. It will be a blast to listen to Love, Simon's soundtrack by itself.

Give Love, Simon a chance if you can see it.