Love, Simon

Love, Simon arrives as a comedy directed by Greg Berlanti, and its first strength is a clear sense of purpose. Nick Robinson and Jennifer Garner give Love, Simon a recognisable human centre before the larger mechanics take over. The central situation in Love, Simon comes into focus without a long explanation: Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. Across its 1h 50m running time, Greg Berlanti keeps Love, Simon careful about tone and generally effective.

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Greg Berlanti shapes Love, Simon with an approach that feels careful about tone and generally effective. The best directed passages in Love, Simon establish an objective, let the characters respond and then allow the pressure to change naturally. The film delivers more often than it misses in Love, Simon, particularly when Greg Berlanti resists the urge to underline an already clear emotion. My main reservation about Love, Simon is that the middle loses a little urgency, a limitation that interrupts rather than defines the experience.

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The craft of Love, Simon is defined by performer rhythm, supported by performer rhythm rather than overwhelmed by decoration. Fox 2000 Pictures gives Love, Simon a production framework in which comic timing built around character can remain connected to story. Made from a United States production context, Love, Simon uses setting and design to clarify mood before dialogue has to explain it. The technical finish of Love, Simon works because image, sound and editing appear to be serving the same immediate purpose.

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Love, Simon is most involving when the screenplay allows Simon Spier to complicate what initially appears to be a story about Simon. That shift gives Nick Robinson a more specific problem to carry through Love, Simon. Working from material credited to Becky Albertalli, Love, Simon reveals the central character at a measured pace instead of rushing toward its largest turn. The later pressure around an important relationship shows why Love, Simon benefits whenever cause and consequence remain visibly connected.

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Beneath its plot, Love, Simon is most interested in embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. That concern becomes visible through Nick Robinson, whose choices allow Love, Simon to explore an idea without stopping for a speech. Simon Spier gives the themes of Love, Simon a concrete dramatic form rather than leaving them abstract. The emotional value of Love, Simon grows whenever Greg Berlanti trusts the audience to connect behaviour with the larger question.

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Nick Robinson gives Love, Simon its most dependable performance, finding a clear emotional intention beneath the plot. Opposite Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner brings Love, Simon a contrasting pace that prevents the central relationship from feeling flat. Josh Duhamel widens the ensemble of Love, Simon through reactions that suggest a life beyond the immediate scene. Greg Berlanti serves the cast of Love, Simon best when a look or pause is allowed to finish before the story moves on.

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My final view is that Love, Simon provides a likeable film whose strengths survive its limitations for comedy fans who respond to personality and timing. Nick Robinson supplies the emotional memory of Love, Simon, while Greg Berlanti keeps the genre machinery readable. A concern remains because the middle loses a little urgency across part of Love, Simon, yet the better passages retain their force. What earns Love, Simon consideration is not perfection but the presence of choices that feel made for this story.