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MOVIE: Love, Simon

STARRING: Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner, Katherine Langford

RATING: M SHOWING AT: The Strand REVIEWER: Leigh Paatsch 3/5

A VERY amiable, if unambitious adaptation of a recent best-seller by Beck Albertalli, Love, Simon has already drawn considerable attention around the traps.

Primarily for breaking through as the first gay-themed movie to be entirely financed and widely released by a major Hollywood studio.

While it is not a work that will change the world, Love, Simon will indeed mean the world to any viewers living through the same trials, tribulations and unnecessarily solitary soul-searching as its teen protagonist.

Simon (played by Nick Robinson) is moving into his final year of high school with the support of a loving family, the camaraderie of a close-knit posse of friends, and the constant worry of living with what he calls “one huge-ass secret”.

Not a person in his life is aware that Simon is gay. Coming out is something Simon believes might be easier to deal with once he leaves his home town to attend college in another state.

However, before the year is through, Simon will have to confront the possibility that any choice regarding the timing of his own outing may no longer be in his hands.

An important virtual relationship via email with another student – albeit anonymously after a chance meeting on the school’s central message board – gives Simon some hope he might be heading in the right direction.

It must be said that Love, Simon can get a little too bland for its own good at times.

The supporting cast, however, are wonderful across the board. Particularly Jennifer Garner as Simon’s mother, a sensitive woman who is finds a way to extend a helping hand.