Love, Simon, the movie: review

It's no secret that I loved Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, so when I first heard about the film of it, I knew I would see it in the cinema without any doubt. I also knew I would drag along my two best friends for the ride; they're usually up for seeing films with me. So we made plans to see it the first weekend it was out.

We made a day of it - we met at The Light in Leeds and had a couple of drinks first, before going to the Vue cinema there. We were the oldest people by quite a margin - everyone else was in their teens or early 20s.

I absolutely adored the film. I laughed and I cried, and I want to see it again immediately to pick up on all the things I missed the first time around. I've got a few thoughts, so here goes, although I will try to avoid huge spoilers:

1. I thought Nick Robinson was perfect as Simon. Not exactly how I'd pictured him, but he was so sweet and played the part perfectly, I really liked him
2. I liked that Simon's BFF Nick was black in the film, I would have liked more screentime of him actually because I really liked the character
3. I loved Abby, I liked her in the book but I really adored her in this film. I hope this actress goes far, she deserves to
4. I ADORED Leah. I was already excited about the sequel book, Leah on the Offbeat, but having seen the film I cannot WAIT to read it. A WHOLE BOOK of Leah is going to be amazing!
5. I won't spoil who Blue is, but I wish we'd seen more of him on screen, I feel like in the book we got more of a look into his personality which made us like him when we discovered his real identity, and I felt like that was missing a bit in the film
6. I loved the look of the film, I thought it was really pretty
7. Simon's bedroom was perfect in every way, I want that teen bedroom right now for myself
8. I thought the whole thing had a huge feel of The Perks of Being A Wallflower to it. I love both the book and the film versions of that, and I feel the same way about this. Plus there's a lot of similar themes of friendship and feeling like outsiders too
9. I thought Simon's parents were really well cast and well acted too
10. It is schmaltzy in parts, especially at the end, but honestly, queer teenagers deserve to see those cheesy romcom types of happy endings reflected on screen

I definitely think the film is a really good adaptation of the book. It retains a lot of the same feel and the same sweetness. I think Nick is a perfect teen comedy hero, and a lot of the supporting cast is absolutely brilliant too. I can't wait to see it again!