Review of Love, Simon (2018) by Christina B — 19 Mar 2018

As a fan of the book (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda), I was both thrilled and nervous to see the movie. I got my tickets for the Thursday night premiere, and the first thing I noticed was the composition of the audience in the theatre. Excluding me, every single group of people in attendance had a preteen or teenager (many of them in rainbow shirts or wearing rainbow bracelets) and what appeared to be their parents or grandparents. I could have cried. Have you ever been in a movie with LGBTQ teens or their allies and their parents? What a world we live in.

The movie was sweet, touching, hilarious, moving -- I could give you a thousand similar words. What struck me most, however, were the changes made from the original source material. I realized halfway through the movie that the book was the gay rom-com that LGBTQ teens wanted... but the movie was the story that we all needed. There's one scene that was added from the book between Simon and his mother that will give closure to every one of us who had a rough coming out experience.

My last comment about this movie: I'm a very stoic movie-goer who doesn't tend to laugh out loud or cry. My eyes were burning with tears at parts. I burst out laughing multiple times. I actually screamed in a cheer at one point at the end. People in the theatre applauded. Please see this movie. Not only is it very well-made, but I have faith that this is going to be the key to truly bringing LGBTQ romance to mainstream movies.