Love, Simon

Dir: Greg Berlanti 1hr 50mins (12A) Gay teen comedy

This “infectiously entertaining” film is something of a landmark, said Benjamin Lee in The Guardian. It’s the first wide-release, big-budget teen comedy to feature a gay protagonist. Nick Robinson plays Simon, a charming, well-adjusted American high school kid with kind, supportive parents (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel). His problem is that he hasn’t come out, and his online flirtation with an anonymous schoolmate threatens to expose him and jeopardise his closest relationships. It’s heartening to see a mainstream studio picture with a gay hero, but how disappointing the film should be so “twee and anodyne”, said Ed Potton in The Times. For Simon’s “sickeningly clean-cut” group of friends, drinking too much coffee appears to be “the ultimate vice”. Even so, Robinson’s thoughtful performance makes him a thoroughly engaging lead, said David Goldberg in Time Out. Love, Simon may lack the “bitchiness” of other teen films, but it is such a “sweet, serious high school romance”, one can’t help feeling it should have “been around decades ago”.