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You'll At Least Like "Simon"

As Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) points out a few times, he's just like every other kid at his high school. He has a key group of friends, who are beholden to their daily routine of driving to school together and picking up iced coffee along the way. They rag on each other, confide in one another, and spend just about every waking moment together. Soon enough, we find out Simon hasn't actually been confiding in them as much as he would like to because he has been keeping the fact he is gay secret from the world.

This all changes when his best friend Leah (Katherine Langford) informs him that someone wrote an anonymous post on the high school chat site saying they were gay. Immediately, Simon finds comfort knowing someone out there is harboring a similar secret. Under the penname Jacques, Simon begins communicating via email with the elusive pen pal, who goes by the name Blue. He has finally gotten a chance to share his secret with one person and even though it's a complete stranger, Simon feels heard.

Since "Love, Simon" is a high school film, something must go completely wrong. One of Simon's classmates, Martin (Logan Miller), gets hold of Simon's email exchanges with Blue and threatens to expose him if Simon doesn't help him talk to his friend Abby (Alexandra Shipp). Martin is an obnoxious buffoon but Simon obliges because he isn't ready for his world to change.

"Love, Simon," directed by Greg Berlanti and adapted from the book "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by screenwriters Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, charts the progression to the inevitable ending. This story is about Simon finding the right time to speak his truth, which is hard even when surrounded by close friends and loving parents (Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner). As played by Robinson, every nuance of Simon's journey shines through. Robinson has constantly felt like an actor on the verge of a major breakout, having starred in a mammoth blockbluster like "Jurassic World," but seek out his work in the terrific "The Kings of Summer."

Is "Love, Simon" a perfect film? No. Not close, really. The first half plays like a routine high school film, leaning heavily into the tropes of these kinds of films, including the wacky vice principal (Tony Hale, who gets some laughs in a throwaway role). It juts up against a more sobering second half without ever really finding a natural synthesis between the two. Set to an indie rock soundtrack, "Love, Simon" can occasionally be a bit too twee, rather than concerned with the story at hand.

Ultimately, the movie is one that does not need to be picked apart. "Love, Simon" will be an important film to many and even with a few bumps along the way it earns its heart, which it proudly wears on its sleeve.