By Michaela Etienne
On Friday, March 16, 2018, the new Romantic Comedy Drama movie Love, Simon was released. The movie was based on Becky Albertelli’s novel Simon vs. Homo Sapiens Agenda. Director Greg Berlanti loved the book so much that he asked Albertelli’s permission to create a movie based on it. Love, Simon is your typical boy meets boy story, but with some hurdles.
It starts off with Simon Spier (played by actor, Nick Robinson) living an ordinary teenage life but with a shocking secret. Simon is alerted by his friends that an unknown person that goes by the name of Blue said he’s gay on their school page. Simon then freaks, because he finally feels like he wasn’t alone. Simon creates a fake email and writes an email to Blue under the name of Jacques to hide his identity. Blue and Simon talk for several weeks until the unthinkable occurs. Martin Addison (played by actor, Logan Miller) comes across Simon’s emails and takes pictures. Using the pictures he took of Simon’s emails conversation, Martin starts blackmailing Simon in order to get a date with his friend Abby Suso (played by actress, Alexandra Shipp). Simon now knows he has to find Blue before his secret is told to the whole world. The only problem is he can’t figure out whether it’s Cal (played by actor, Miles Heizer), Bram (played by actor, Keiynan Lonsdale), or Lyle (played by actor, Joey Pollari). If he doesn’t find out soon his world will be turned upside down.
This movie has helped actor Nick Robinson understand his little brother, who happens to be gay, because it forced him to basically be in the same situation that his brother was in and still is in. This movie really had an effect on director Greg Berlanti, and actors Joey Pollari, Miles Hiezer and Keiynan Lonsdale because they have all dealt with their own personal coming out story. This movie has made such a huge impact is so educational and inspirational that actress Kristen Bell, actor Neil Patrick Harris, athlete Sacha Kljestan and many more have bought out theaters so that people can watch this movie for free.
I would really recommend Love, Simon because it’s just an amazing movie. This movie will have you in tears both from laughing and crying. My favorite part of the movie was when Simon had a one-on-one conversation with his dad (played by actor, Josh Duhamel) about being gay. You’d expect some parents to be angry finding out that their child is gay, but Simon’s dad was the exact opposite. Rather than being mad at Simon, he was sad and angry at himself because he felt that he should’ve noticed so that he could’ve been there for his son through his difficult journey. This movie benefits so many because it discusses the importance of accepting yourself and coming out to your family, your friends and the rest of the world.