And I have returned! When I sat down to watch this movie a couple of weeks ago, I was super excited because I actually wanted to see this movie when it originally came out in 2018. So let's get into it, shall we?
When I first saw the trailer for Love, Simon back in 2018, I thought it looked pretty good. I'm a fan of Greg Berlanti's work as he's produced some pretty great shows over the years including Everwood and pretty much every comic book based show on The CW. But I didn't get to see the movie because I actually didn't have anyone to go see it with. Then I kind of forgot about it until I saw that it was on Disney+, since it was produced and released by 20th Century Fox. Love, Simon is based on Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, because of course Berlanti would direct an adaptation of a book or comic.
Despite the fact that the movie is about a gay person who is struggling to decide whether he wants to come out or not, the movie itself is actually pretty relatable to anyone in that we all hide who we really are from the world around us, especially from those closest to us. When we reveal ourselves to the world, we run the risk of the world not liking us. But, hopefully, if we're lucky, we find people in our lives who will accept us for who we are, no matter how weird we might be. Simon says it better at the end of the movie, but that's the gist of what he said. Honestly, I am 100% onboard with that because as an autistic person, I'm not always liked by the world around me, but I'm lucky to have friends and a family who accept me for who I am.
The cast in this movie is amazing. Out of everyone, the only ones I recognized were Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Katherine Langford. I mean Duhamel was in all three of the first three Transformers movies, Jennifer Garner was in Alias, Daredevil, and Elektra not to mention dozens of other shows and movies that I haven't seen, and Keiynan Lonsdale played Wally West/Kid Flash on The Flash for a few seasons. I only know who Katherine Langford is because of 13 Reasons Why. I haven't seen that show, but I've heard people talking about it and seen reviews of it on YouTube. Apparently she's also in the Rian Johnson film, Knives Out, but I haven't seen that yet, despite a friend telling me I need to see it.
I love the fact that there aren't any high stakes in this movie. The world won't end because of Simon being outed by Martin, aliens aren't invading the planet as a result of Simon's outing. All it is is a story about a boy falling in love with another boy, and whether he should come out or not. I laughed quite a bit. Not always because something was genuinely funny, though there were a few times where I did laugh at something genuinely funny. I laughed because of how deliciously cheesy this movie is. Despite the fact that he didn't write this movie, this is 100% a Greg Berlanti movie. The dialogue is cheesy enough that if I hadn't seen the writing credits for this movie, I'd think he wrote them. And just the way some of the characters behave reminds me of the shows that Berlanti produced. This really feels like a movie where, while other people wrote it, and it's based on previously published works, it became what it is because of the director's influence.
My favourite relationship in this movie, besides Simon's parents, is that of Simon and Abby. Abby is the friend that Simon hasn't known his entire life, unlike Nick and Leah, as she just moved to town, but it's because of this that Simon feels more comfortable coming out to because they don't have that history. Which somewhat makes sense to me, because there's at least one time where I told a friend something about myself, that I hadn't told the friends I've known longer, and it felt easier. It's still a weird choice, but it's one I understand somewhat.
I also like the friendship between Simon and Leah (Katherine Langford's character). It reminds me of a friendship in my life. Though oddly enough, I kind of figured out that Leah was in love with Simon before she told him after Martin leaked Simon and Blue's e-mails to the entire school. I don't normally pick up on things like that, but it's a Greg Berlanti movie and he always, or almost always, has an unrequited love friendship in all of his work.
Simon and Nick didn't really have that many scenes together without the girls, so it's harder for me to really grasp what their friendship is, outside of Simon telling us that he'd known Nick and Leah since they were kids. I do love how Nick and Leah live across the street from each other and Simon reverses his car out of Nick's driveway and right into Leah's. That was great.
The one thing I didn't really like about it, aside from the character of Martin, is the fact that technically, the movie ruined the reveal of who Blue is at the end of the movie, by revealing it to us near the start of it. I haven't read the book, so I don't know if that was in the book or just the writers, or Berlanti, came up with, but it kind of spoils the movie a little bit because you know who it is even though it's the first person that Simon thinks of and the one Simon dismisses after the Halloween party. I don't want to give it away though in case some people reading this hasn't seen the movie yet.
I enjoyed this movie immensely. My sister had wanted me to see it when it first came out, but I just didn't get the chance. If you haven't seen it yet, I definitely recommend you check out Love, Simon.
I have three more posts to do today. The next one is my review of season 1 of Love, Victor which is the spin-off of this movie. Then the second is my review of that show's second season which I finished earlier this week. And the final post of the day is a look at the storyline of two characters across both seasons. So I'll see you shortly.
No comments:
Post a Comment