By: Cait Marie
If you know nothing about Love, Simon, start by watching this trailer.
Now play Wild Heart by Bleachers while reading for optimum experience.
Where to begin with Love, Simon… for those who don’t know, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli is one of my favorite books of all-time. I absolutely adore it! I recently reread it in preparation for the movie, so a full review on the book is coming soon.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a coming of age, coming out story about 17-year-old Simon Spier, whose emails with the mysterious ‘Blue,’ another secretly-gay guy at his school, are found by a fellow student. Simon’s secret is then used against him as blackmail. All the while, his life as a typical teenage student continues.
To say I was excited for the movie adaptation of my favorite stand alone book is a massive understatement. I created a countdown on my phone for the movie’s release in June 2017– so for about 9-10 months I was counting down. I have tweeted and retweeted dozens of things about the movie and book. I’ve even received likes and replies from Albertalli, to which I fully fangirled each time.
The movie started playing in theaters on March 16, but I wasn’t able to go until the following day. My sister and I drove almost 45 minutes to see it because it wasn’t playing in our town, which I’m still upset about because I want to go see it again.
Yes, I want to go see it again. I rarely go to the movies, so if I want to willingly pay that much to see a movie for a second time… you know I loved it.
And I absolutely loved it!! There were definitely changes, but for the most part the differences were just things that were left out. The main story, and more importantly the message and the feeling were still fully intact.
A couple of changes upset me, the biggest being Simon’s sisters. Nora is portrayed as a much younger, sweeter version of what I expected. And Alice wasn’t included at all. I think Alice missing was the biggest issue I had because she was such an important character in the book.
Regardless, the movie was fantastic. It’s 110 minutes long and I bet I cried for the last 50-60 minutes, pretty much nonstop. Most were good tears though. Like I said in my upcoming review, it is the most feel-good book I’ve ever read. It’s universally relatable, even if you don’t identify as a member of the lgbt+ community. And the movie keeps all of that emotion. There are so many warm, fuzzy feelings while watching it, I couldn’t keep myself from grinning like an idiot.
So my overall grade for this book-to-movie adaptation would be an A+. While there were changes, it still blew me away and made me so happy. I can’t wait to see it again and buy it the minute it comes out! Until then, I’ll continue to listen to the soundtrack.
“No matter what, announcing who you are to the world is pretty terrifying… ‘cause what if the world doesn’t like you?”
Functionally Fictional 