Love, Simon – Film Review
Rarely are coming-of-age films as unique and as emotional as Love, Simon truly is. This is a film that has an absolutely beautiful message, and one that will resonate with hundreds of thousands of audiences.
Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) is a normal every-day typical high-schooler. He goes to school every day and hangs out at lunch and after school with his best friends Leah Burke (Katherine Langford), Abby Suso (Alexandra Shipp), and Nick Eisner (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.). However, Simon has not told his friends or family that he is gay, and the film follows his day-to-day life as he wants to tell his peers, but is worried. He is not sure how they will react, and he is not quite sure when he is ready to tell his friends and family that he is gay.
Nick Robinson as Simon Spier in Love, Simon (2018).
Nick Robinson gives a truly great performance as Simon. From the opening five minutes of Love, Simon, his energy and charisma is so strong, and it is nearly impossible to not like his character. You also genuinely do feel sympathy for him during certain scenes because of the situations he is in, which I will not spoil. Additionally, Robinson does a terrific job at some of the more emotional scenes as well, and I was quite impressed with his performance.
Furthermore, the chemistry between Robinson and his fellow actors is extremely strong. Their characters do not feel like characters. Himself, and the rest of his friends in the film feel like completely real people. Those are the best types of film characters – the characters that feel so real and lifelike, that you actually forget that actors are portraying fictional people. I never once saw a character in Love, Simon to be fictional.
The film also has an extremely powerful message that is to be appreciated – that message being that if you are gay, there is nothing wrong with that. That message is sure to be appreciated, and it is certainly one of the most powerful messages in film I have seen in years.
Nick Robinson as Simon Spier in Love, Simon (2018).
In addition, the cinematography is exceptional, shot by John Guleserian. Some of the best shots in the film are aerial shots, and it was great to see a coming-of-age film with some truly great looking sequences.
The beginning of Love, Simon did feel a tad bit rushed, however. It seemed as if the filmmakers wanted to progress the story along a bit too fast, and they wanted you to get to know every one of the main characters in the film within a five to ten minute time span.
Love, Simon has an absolutely beautiful and powerful message, and contains a brilliant performance by Nick Robinson.
To watch my video review of Love, Simon, please click this link: https://youtu.be/_K3Y6wNERjY
Overall Grade: A
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual references, language and teen partying
Cast: Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner
Directed by: Greg Berlanti
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Running Time: 110 minutes