The only reason I saw this movie was that my wife had free tickets. She and my daughter had seen this a week ago, again with free tickets, and raved about it. My daughter promised me that it was good, and she usually trusts me when I proclaim the same to her, so I decided to go. I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm really glad that no one told me that Jennifer Garner was in this, because that would have stopped me from going. I usually can not stand her, with the exception of "Catch and Release". However, she wasn't bad in this. Garner and Josh Duhamel play the parents of Simon (Nick Robinson) and Nora (Talitha Eliana Bateman).
Simon is your typical high school senior. He has a loving family. His dad (Duhamel) was the quarterback and is overly sensitive. His mom was the valedictorian/liberal psychologist. His sister, Nora is an aspiring culinary chef who uses the family as guinea pigs. He has his core group of friends, Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) Abby (Alexandra Shipp), and Leah (Katherine Langford). Simon is also in the drama club, and seems well liked by most of his school. But Simon has a secret! Simon is gay.
Simon finds, on his schools blog, that there is another, anonymous guy at his school, "Blue", that is also gay. This mysterious post sets Simon's mind fluttering. He isn't alone with his secret. There is another person, at his school, going through the same thing. Simon responds, anonymously, setting in motion a chain of emails between the two. Neither boy having come out to anyone, they keep their true identities secret, even from each other.
Along the way, Simon imagines several different people from his school as the mysterious "Blue". He daydreams about what it will finally be like to have a romantic encounter, and to finally be free to be who he really is with someone else. As Simon tries to unravel the clues to "Blue's" identity, he carelessly leaves their correspondences open on a school computer.They are quickly discovered by fellow drama nerd Martin (Logan Miller). Martin proceeds to blackmail Simon with threats of revealing his sexuality to the school in exchange for Simon's help winning the heart of Abby.
Abby is relatively new to the school, but still way out of Martin's nerdy league. There is, in fact, an unspoken attraction between Abby and Nick. And further, Leah has been madly in love with Simon for years, but has been too shy to actually make her move. Instead she leaves very visible hints and innuendo. However, Simon begins to bow to Martin's demands, which sets in motion horrible ramifications amongst his friends.
After a few weeks of trying to get Abby to fall for Martin, Simon suggests to Martin to make a grand gesture to her. Martin decides that the best to do this would be during the singing of the National Anthem at the Homecoming game. Of course, Abby rejects his proposal, and Martin leaves in complete embarrassment. Martin, after days of ridicule, outs Simon on the same school blog page that led to Simon finding Blue's original post.
As Simon begins to endure his own ridicule and harassment, he decides to come out to his family. He finds his family tremendously supportive, however, his friends feel betrayed by his helping Martin and his distrust of them.
Eventually Simon sets out to make things right and to finally find Blue. Starting with Leah, he explains to her, Nick, and Abby that what he did was in efforts to keep his secret and for the love of Blue. He posts a blog inviting Blue to meet him at the school carnival. And with most of the school looking on.....
Anyway, this did turn out to be a pretty good movie. It was much funnier than I anticipated. Performances from the likes of Tony Hale as Vice Principle Worth, and Natasha Rothwell as Ms. Albright really set this film over the top. They were simply fantastic. The young, most gay cast, really came off as authentic and performed really well. I think that anyone would enjoy this film.
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