Coming-out story proves funny, sweet
Love, Simon
Starring Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner. Directed by Greg Berlanti. Opens Friday at GTA theatres. 109 minutes. PG We’re so well-advanced into the 21st century that a “coming out” story about a gay middle-class teen with a “huge-ass secret” may seem to be rather pedestrian and passé.
But Love, Simon is going to come as a pleasant, even illuminating surprise to audiences. The casting is high quality, the script — with a tantalizing mystery at its heart — is particularly well-crafted and the story hits all the right emotional notes in delivering a funny, warm-hearted and life-affirming tale.
Simon Spier, in his final year of high school, has everything going for him, including a supportive family and a cadre of close friends.
Despite all of that, and a culture that more or less allows people to freely express their sexuality, Simon can’t quite bring himself to take the leap and reveal himself to the world.
He soon becomes intrigued with “Blue,” a fellow closeted gay teen who’s using the message board at his high school to ever so slowly come to terms with himself.
Simon and Blue begin a cyber relationship and that’s when things go awry. A fellow student named Martin — you’ll recognize the type when you see him — learns Simon’s secret and blackmails him into helping him get closer to Simon’s good friend, Abby.
At the same time, Simon develops a deep emotional attach- ment to Blue, along with a desperate need to find out who he is.
Nick Robinson is outstanding in the lead role, with just the right blend of guile and vulnerability, although he’s not entirely a good guy.
His efforts to appease Martin threaten to destroy his longheld friendships and turn him into kind of a jerk.
The script by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker — based on the novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda — also gives the remaining cast their opportunity to shine, including Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel (who has one really great scene) as his supportive parents, Alexandra Shipp as Abby, Katherine Langford as Simon’s oldest friend, Leah, and even Logan Miller as the obnoxious Martin, whom you’ll love to hate.
There’s also some really great supporting performances, including Tony Hale as the trying-to-be-hip-with-the-kids viceprincipal Mr. Worth and Natasha Rothwell as the cheeky, plain-spoken drama teacher, Ms. Albright.
Clark Moore makes the most of a small but important role in the story as Ethan, the only openly gay kid at school.
Director Greg Berlanti does a fine job of keeping us guessing about the identity of Blue, offering a series of tantalizing clues that are sure to misdirect. Figuring out the identity of Blue (good luck) adds a huge amount of tension and fun to the story.
Love, Simon is a finely executed story, a nicely balanced blend of comedy, pathos and teen angst that never feels ma- nipulative or preachy, thanks to a solid script and a great cast, starting with Robinson’s winning lead performance as Simon.