I will get right to the point — “Love, Simon” tops my list as my favorite movie I have seen all year, and I see a lot of movies.
Now it probably is not Oscar-worthy, but it was happy, funny, sad and devastating all at the same time.
Directed by Greg Berlanti, “Love, Simon” was released on March 16 and is a teenage romantic comedy.
It pulled at my heartstrings, and it told a story many will be able to relate to, especially young adults and high school students.
The film told the story of a high school boy, Simon, who meets another boy from his school online. Both boys are hiding that they are gay, and Simon falls in love with him over email, all the time not knowing his name or face.
When another boy from his school accidentally discovered that Simon is gay, he blackmails Simon, threatening that he will tell the whole school his secret.
The movie follows Simon as he tries to keep his secret covered up and exposes just how terrible and harsh high school can be ,especially for LGBTQ+ students.
The movie starred Nick Robinson from “Jurassic World” as Simon, Katherine Langford from “13 Reasons Why”as his lifelong best friend, Leah and the well-known Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel as Simon’s loving and nearly perfect parents.
This is a movie that is designed not only to entertain, but to change the way that the public views LGBTQ+ people. Additionally, the movie is made much more powerful by its setting: high school.
The film showcases that coming out is not hard just for adults, but for today’s youth too —and being surrounded by hateful, disapproving people can make coming out and being one's true self a terrible experience.
I would definitely recommend seeing this movie if you are someone who is not usually open to movies that explore homosexuality, because “Love, Simon” explores both homosexuality and heterosexuality in a lighter way than many others, and in a way that is different from what I have seen before.
For almost any viewer, and especially for teens who are struggling with their own identity, “Love, Simon” will most definitely provoke many emotions. I personally think it is an important movie for everyone to see.
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For movie viewers of any age, “Love, Simon” offers a fun and moving movie-going experience that aims to challenge and destroy current norms surrounding boy-girl, teenage relationships and is most definitely worth the cost of a ticket.
Timber Mabes is a culture reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @timbermabes.
