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lerryhazel
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Love, Simon (2018)
I'm so irritated i had to create an account and write a review
You know, I generally believe that teen movies do more harm that good, and I'm utterly grateful to my parents for never letting me watch them when I was still a teenager. But, in their awkward and unbelievable way, most teen movies at least try to get the "right" message across. "Love, Simon" is different, - and not in a good way.
First of all, the movie doesn't even try to pretend it is not ridiculous. I mean, the plot only happens because one character - who, as we later learn, is determined to keep his identity a secret even from a potential love interest, - decides to announce his sexuality on a SCHOOL GOSSIP SITE; and another character decides to access his correspondence with a person clearly big on privacy FROM A PUBLIC COMPUTER, in spite of having a phone capable of checking e-mails, if he absolutely can't wait. Meanwhile, nothing was stopping them from meeting, say, in an online support group and then accidentally letting it slip they go to the same school, but, I guess, the writers were too lazy to add the extra twist. Anyway, when the secret inevitably gets discovered, that second character - Simon - decides to lie to his friends instead of just talking to them: and, yes, I get that he is not ready, blah-blah-blah, but, if he had told his friends he was being blackmailed, would they have insisted on knowing why before agreeing to help? Not to mention that he does end up telling Abby he is gay; but when she doesn't immediately produce a crucifix and start reciting an exorcism, he still doesn't bother telling her "and that's why Martin is blackmailing me, so could you, please, gently but firmly let him know he has no chance?".
However, that is not really a problem: nowadays a lot of movies are written like they want to end up on "CinemaSins". That's the moral aspect that concerns me.
Because at first glance, the whole "I know my parents and friends would stand by me but I just don't feel like having the awkward conversation" whining basically feels like a giant spit to the face of every person who's ever been afraid to come out because they might be thrown out of the house, or beaten half to death, or lose their job, or go to prison...
Of course, if one's problems are not apocalyptic, it doesn't mean they are not worth considering, and I wouldn't have minded if they had made a film about how coming out is a big deal and it's OK to be afraid even if there is no physical threat.
Except, if we go back to the very beginning, we are, presumably, supposed to celebrate the anonymous ad on the school site as an acceptable and promising first step: except the Anonymous turns out to be Bram - a popular sportsman no one would probably suspect, but every bully at school would definitely double their abuse of every kid that "looks gay".
And then the authors seem to have no problem with making fun of Ethan's coming-out.
And the supposed happy ending shows us how Simon, having gone through traumatic experience of forced coming-out, forces the man he supposedly loves into a very public and very between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place coming-out.
Speaking of love, it's almost noteworthy how, despite the token protest about Simon and Ethan not being a couple and the quest to find "the one" being the whole point of the story, the film manages to fall into the "your soulmate is the other gay person in the vicinity" trope. And by that I mean not only the fact that the character literally ends up with the very first guy he considered, but the way Simon's relationship with Blue is presented throughout the film.
It's clear from how poor his search is going that Simon doesn't know anything about Blue, which is not surprising, since they don't seem to discuss anything but their respective experiences as closeted gay teenager in their letters: I'm too lazy to go and check, but did the initial ad even specify Blue was male? Consequently, our character's only criteria for ticking candidates off his list is them showing interest in girls: and, not getting to learn anything else about the guys, the audience is actually unable to root for any pairing. Moreover, despite all his talk about "true love", Simon's willingness to "cast" every attractive guy as Blue proves that he doesn't care either.
In other words, it kinda bothers me how many people seem to like this, ahem, film.