Love, Simon was truly relatable. I believe almost every teen has felt like their school was a magnifying glass on their insecurities. If only everyone had a support system like Simon does. That was the beauty of this movie. Even through the bad choices and schemes, he was still accepted. It’s difficult to realize when people are pushed against a wall, they don’t act like themselves and I’m glad this movie recognized that. I also really enjoyed watching Nick Robinson play this believable and likable Simon character.

It’s hard to choose my favorite part of this movie. I instantly fell in love with the soundtrack. I’m so glad that movies are starting to focus on playing indie or alt-rock music in teen movies instead of top hits pop radio type music. It makes the kids more relatable in my eyes. High school is often the time when people start expressing themselves uniquely, especially through musical choices, so I believe this soundtrack helped show us what kind of teens we were watching. Also, the theater teacher was the coolest person in the movie. She was hilarious and real. Ms. Albright was played by Natasha Rothwell and she rocked the part. The best scene is when the homophobic bullying transfers to Simon too, and she put a quick stop to it while expressing to the teen boys that because of them she’s having her tubes tied! Another great aspect of this movie is how deep his friendships are. They are really something to admire and I honestly wish every child had friends like these. All of the teens played their roles amazingly including Nick Robinson playing Simon, Katherine Langford from 13 Reasons Why playing best friend Leah, and Alexandra Shipp plays the understanding new friend Abby.

The part I had a HUGE problem with was the ending. *SPOILER ALERT* Simon is outed as gay without his consent via this gossip site. He has already met someone on this site who came out anonymously and after all the drama, Simon asks this boy to show himself, even after he has refused through their emails. Now, Simon did not have much choice in the matter of his coming out. That was the main conflict of the movie! Then when he proposes to his anonymous crush to step forward, he’s almost doing the same thing to him. That’s so hypocritical. I understand it was supposed to be a large romantic gesture (almost like the one everyone made fun of another kid for), but it was asking too much from the crush. He had already stated he did not want to make his real identity known. Yes, Simon was afraid of losing him, and yes, Simon was very brave in acknowledging the truth of the post and then sitting on that Ferris wheel for an awkwardly long time. These do not override Simon ignoring the privacy of the other boy. Also, I was a little disappointed when the identity of the boy was revealed. I expected it to be someone new and more meaningful to Simon. It was a little cheesy for my blood, but not totally out of the ordinary for a school who is wrapped up in a gossip site.

I appreciated the scenes of honesty and acceptance from his family and friends. That and Simon’s bravery (and the awesome music) make this movie great. I acknowledge that this isn’t the norm for family reactions, and they did allow some error in the parent’s responses, but overall, they were accepting and that is always touching, even if I believe it’s a no-brainer. I also understand why the friends responded the way they did. After Simon was publicly outed during Winter Break he ghosted everyone. His friends reached out to him often for explanations, but today, if a friend totally disappears, I would be worried. But as a teenager, it’s often hard to accept that someone close to you, would risk your happiness just to save themselves, which is what Simon tried to do. I get his choices though, especially with how Ethan was treated. This whole conflict felt real to what many people might go through if placed in the same scenario. I always appreciate realness. For these reasons, I give this movie a 9!

Perfect Soundtracks can make a movie.  Every John Hughes film,  is a prime example.  As great as the film,  Love Simon is,  the soundtrack really helped make this movie, fantastic.  Yes,  this is a love story,  but there wasn’t any sappy love songs that were just plain annoying.  The soundtrack mainly consisted of three artists.  Amy Stark, Bleachers and,  Khalid & Normani. All different, but perfectly balanced to match the mood of the movie.  While the music is poppy and probably more for people below the age of twenty- five, I found this soundtrack,  great.

Amy Shark and Bleachers for me, headlined this soundtrack.  I really liked Weekends by Amy Stark and Rollecrcoaster by the Bleachers.  Overall,  I recommend getting the soundtrack, if you love this film.  It’s something that will listen to over and over.  It didn’t need any Whitney Houston, but all soundtracks can’t be perfect, especially when matching the mood a film. If the film is a 9/10 then the soundrack deserves the same score…