Love, Simon

       Love, Simon stars Nick Robinson as Simon Spier, a closeted gay kid who struggles to keep his secret from his friends, his overly masculine father, his mother, and sister. Despite his secret, he lives a well-adjusted life with likable parents, a sister that he "actually likes", and friends that he loves to be around. When someone from his school anonymously posts on a social media site about their homosexuality, it opens up an opportunity for Simon to reach out to someone with shared experiences and to hopefully gain some insight on how to deal with being "in the closet."
       The big questions this movie provokes before going in are simply put. How will Simon come out to the world? Will he? Who will be accepting and who will reject him? And most importantly, what is the identity of this mysterious closeted gay kid? Although these questions sound like the setup for a cliche high school movie disguised as a gay romance, the film actually turned out to be quite the opposite. Some elements from the stereotypical high school narrative structure remained, but the one thing that separates this film from others of its caliber is its writing. Love, Simon is extremely well-written and mostly stays away from certain tropes and cliches that come from this genre. It's this avoidance and well-rounded characters that give this movie its original spin. I was genuinely surprised that I found myself invested in this character only 20 minutes into the film. One aspect of the writing that I loved was the character of Simon himself. I feel as though many people will be able to relate to Simon more than they would think. We all have secrets. Some are larger than others and we would do whatever we could to keep them from others. How you handle the maintenance of your secrecy can say a lot about a person. How will relationships be affected? How far will you go to keep your secrets? What sacrifices are you willing to make? Simon makes an excellent example of these questions by being imperfect about how he handles the situations these elements create. New friendships can emerge, but current relationships can suffer as well and this movie shows that there might not be a way to avoid it. This doesn't mean, however, that these situations will always end on a somber note. Trust comes into play many times throughout the movie and it affects Simon and almost everyone around him. Trust is what can change the most dangerous situations into either something more hazardous or something positive.
        LOL did not mean to get all philosophical on you guys, but I don't feel like deleting it so have fun with it :)
        As for things I didn't like, I thought the character of the principal was annoying. The whole "adult trying to fit in with the youth" persona felt way too forced and eliminated any likability the character could have had. However, there is a small thing he does towards the end that, despite being somewhat hidden beneath the youthful vibe he puts out, reinforces his best quality and reminds us that kindness is important.  Also, the openly gay character Ethan was a bit too stereotypical, but he had some of the best dialogue so it evens out.
       Overall, I think Love, Simon is a wonderful, original spin on a somewhat overdone genre. Not only is it relatable, but it also never loses your attention. Definitely go check this one out. 9/10