If you've read my other post about Love, Simon, you'll know how big of a step this particular film takes in terms of mainstream representation. Love, Simon aims to recapture the classic John Hughes magic (the director behind Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club), but this time introduces people to a different type of protagonist. While audiences are, at this point, well adjusted to seeing queer characters on television there has never been an all ages, mainstream, Hollywood production with a queer leading man, leaving many to wonder whether movie-goers are ready to meet someone like Simon. Despite, then, the unavoidable need to adjust to such a ground-breaking format, I'm happy to say that finally meeting Simon was an undeniable pleasure.
In terms of the John Hughes-esque atmosphere that the movie attempts to recreate, Love, Simon was an undeniable success. The film modernizes the classic, high school rom-com and infuses it with modern day tech and social mind-sets that really do make you feel like you're setting foot into the modern day equivalent of Hughes's movie world. In fact, Love, Simon sits tonally alongside Fox's coming-of-age, Hughes inspired pseudo-franchise, which up to now includes the successful Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars .
book-to-film adaptations.
Rob Simonsen's soothing score helps in this tonal recreation as his 80's synths and understated scoring allows the film to not only flourish, but really deliver in it's most moving moments. The score isn't revolutionary, but it delivers, and it's nice to see the 1980's coming-of-age inspiration pulled into all elements of the film. While heavily inspired by films of the past, Love, Simon does go on to offer a story never explored by those old classics. The difference this time around is that Simon - our lead - is gay. I didn't expect this to be an issue considering I myself identify as such, but at many times I found watching Love, Simon to be a completely jarring experience. Let me explain.
I think one of the reasons was the film's tone. Love, Simon really is a teen movie, and while my 19 year old self qualifies to fall under that demographic it did seem to skew a little young. Looking back, it's no younger than the aforementioned John Green adaptations (which I have to say I loved at their times of release), but its fictitious nature seems more noticeable at this age. Certain events and plot-points within the film felt a tad too unrealistic and Simon's family dynamic and life on-screen seemed at times inaccessibly perfect. Then, though, I remembered all of the other examples of queer love I have seen on-screen.
Call Me By Your Name, Carol, God's Own Country, Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight just about round-off that list. All very adult while most end in despair or discomfort for the highlighted couple in question. It was, therefore, initially jarring to see such a 'Hollywood' take on a gay romance. Everything, for the most part, turns out ok for Simon and I am ashamed to say that that kind of shocked me. I knew, of course, that that was what Love, Simon had to offer, but I guess deep in my subconscious it jarred with my expectations and forced me to re-adjust completely to a new and normalized perspective. I've never seen anything like it. Love, Simon is a teen film that is only as unrealistic as Bridget Jones or Sleepless in Seattle. It isn't meant to be an Oscar nominated movie, it's meant to be a funny romantic comedy, and this time it's the queer community's turn to have a fun, adventurous love story.
Certain sequences revolving around Nick Robinson's wonderfully played Simon and his coming out were moving, accurate and relatable - yet I never expected to see something like it in an all-ages family film. Don't get me wrong, it's not as if these sequences are explicit, they've just never been put on screen like they have in Love, Simon, with Hollywood historically deeming all queer experiences as 'too adult' or 'too taboo' for a family audience.
Most of the movie relies on Simon as the narrating protagonist and Robinson performed excellently through both subtle and bold performances throughout the characters journey. Robinson's impact was matched by Jennifer Garner's supporting role as Simon's mother. The phenomenal screenplay provided her with the defining speech of the film (you'll know it when you see it), and while it wasn't long or overstated, the presence of Garner's character filled the film with a warmth and glow that seems hard to come by in such a commercial era of movie-making.
Other standouts include Josh Duhamel as Simon's dad (who provides a role model through his character for any parent of a queer-identifying child), as well as Natasha Rothwell's drama teacher, and Alexandra Shipp's Abby. Katherine Langford shone brightest among her fellow supporting cast-mates as Leah, Simon's long time best friend and confidant. Her performance was subtle and to fully understand her character requires you to read between the lines, but she was just as flooring as Garner and Robinson and I'm excited to see where her career takes her going forward.
Sure, some people are upset that the film provides yet another depiction of a white, male, cis-gendered and masculine gay male (overwhelmingly the most commonly depicted type of queer individual across mainstream television today), but without this film's success we probably wont see the lesbian rom-com or the trans protagonists that we also need and deserve. If this grosses enough money then more diverse queer stories will be funded and told in Hollywood. It's just the way Hollywood works - it's a business - and it is quite obvious that Berlanti has crafted a film that will appeal to the widest audience possible at this moment in time by using the most widely accepted 'version' of a queer identifying individual as his protagonist. The film does, however, make a suitably large effort to include said diversity through supporting characters. One black, feminine and gay side-character (pictured above, played by Clarke Moore) is presented respectfully and three dimensionally in a ground-breaking move for Hollywood, and he arguably steals the show.
The next paragraph includes spoilers for the film, if you want to remain clueless then please skip it.
On top of this, the main romance of the film is an inter-racial one between Simon and another queer black male. I won't highlight the actor in particular, as much of this film's plot revolves around the mystery of his identity, but don't underestimate how big of a step this is for a mainstream movie. This type of diverse representation is huge - as was the audible support of the audience when Simon had his first kiss in the movie's charming final act. That was another moment that shocked me - the kiss. It wasn't cut short, it was allowed to breathe. It was filmed respectfully, proudly and packed an emotional punch that tied the entire film together for the audience. Hopefully in the years going forward it wont have to seem as risky to include this simple display of love in a mainstream, Hollywood production.
Love, Simon is a charming coming-of-age film with the capacity to appeal to all demographics of movie goers. It really is a wonderful teen flick that paves the way for even more queer content going forward. It was surprising how much it forced me to re-adjust my subconscious expectations as an audience member of what gay representation should be, but in doing so it proved just how needed it was. Put simply, if I had seen this film as a young teenager it would have literally changed my life. I felt seen. My only issue with the film was its length, it felt like it could have cut about fifteen minutes in the middle of the movie when it slowed down in the second act. Apart from that, though, I have literally no complaints. Love, Simon was genuinely funny, important, and moving. It has the capacity to transform the way young LGBTQ+ people are viewed and view themselves, and it is another excellent addition to Fox's ever-growing collection of contemporary teen films.
Love, Simon is out now in the US and in the UK on April 6th.
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