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The Love, Simon movie opened in theaters nationwide on Friday. It’s a sweet and touching movie centered around a gay teen coming out to his friends, family, and school wrapped up in a typical teen romantic comedy. Is it something you & your kids need to see? My parent movie review says yes! Here’s why I loved Love, Simon and why older kids will too. 

 

 

Go See Love, Simon Movie | Parent Movie Review

 

If you know me, you know I love action movies. I’m a huge fan of Marvel, Star Wars, etc.

But a little-known secret is that I’m obsessed with Rom-Coms.

They are actually my favorite. If you give me a choice of movies to see, I’m going to pick something with Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock or Ryan Gosling in it.

So going to see Love, Simon movie last weekend was a total no-brainer from that angle. But I had another reason to go.

I’m a mom of teens and tweens and if they are excited about something, I know it’s a baller parenting move to get excited about it with them.

And boy, were both of my teens excited about this movie!

 

 

Love, Simon Movie Synopsis

From 20th Century Fox:

Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year-old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. Directed by Greg Berlanti (Riverdale, The Flash, Supergirl), screenplay by Elizabeth Berger & Isaac Aptaker (This is Us), and based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, LOVE, SIMON is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love.

 

Love, Simon Trailer

 

 

Love, Simon Movie Parent Movie Review

Love, Simon is a sweet, funny, totally relatable “typical teen” love story.

But of course there’s a plot twist: this teen love story comes with an extra layer of storyline (psst- Simon is gay).

I kinda felt like I was watching a John Hughes movie of my youth and enjoyed the movie immensely. Gen Xers: you know what’s up! You’ll see it too, I promise.

But John Hughes never had a gay lead looking for love, and for that, I’m afraid his library of teen-centered movies will always be lacking.

This is one of those movies that our kids are going to talk about and remember for a long time. It’s that good and that important in this day and age to see representation from every walk of life on the big screen.

 

Love, Simon Movie Cast

As a parent of teens, I found myself honed in on the parents in this movie and the family reaction to Simon’s news.

I often wonder if my interactions and reactions during these years are helpful to my kids. Or if I’m just adding to their therapy bills later in life. Ahem.

Being a teen is hard but I’m convinced being a parent of a teen is harder. (Kids, you’ll understand someday.)

Being a parent to a gay teen who is just coming to terms with his norm? Welp, that’s definitely not in most parenting handbooks (though maybe it should be).

I was holding my breath, concerned mostly about Dad’s reaction due to some awkward jokes and missteps he inadvertently made early in the movie.

 

 

Simon’s parents did not let me down.

I felt Jennifer Garner & Josh Duhamel played loving parents to perfection.

If every teen coming out had this support, the world would be a better place. I know it’s a movie, but man, this is a good place to start if we want life to imitate art.

My only storyline complaint was that his friends didn’t react in the way I expected them to.

Don’t get me wrong: I loved these friends!

Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. were fantastically cast.

But man, they let me down on a “you’re best friends with my kid support him at all costs” level.

I wanted them to rally around Simon a little more strongly when his world gets flipped.

 

 

Nick Robinson: a perfect Simon. And I loved Simon from the first moment I saw him interact with his family. He was a good kid, and one I instantly started rooting for.

I live with teens and am around their friends- and yes, this is exactly how they act. Most of the time, anyway.

I adored him and his performance and connected with him and his struggles immediately.

Other Nick Robinson movies that are going on my list include Everything, Everything, Being Charlie, and Jurassic World (again!).

 

Is Love, Simon Movie Kid-Friendly?

Love, Simon is a typical teen romantic comedy with the atypical twist.

The twist is not the reason why I hesitate recommending this movie for kids of all ages.

He’s gay, he’s seeking love, he just wants to be like everyone else. Those are pretty universal feelings and I’m thrilled to see this story playing out in a major motion picture in such a realistic and relatable way. And I have no problem sending my kids in to see this on screen either.

That being said: I won’t be taking my younger children because it’s a typical teen movie, and as Captain America says, LANGUAGE!

 

 

I wish it was a smudge cleaner on that front.

I’m not a prude by any means, but I do cringe greatly when I hear kids dropping sexual language and a little too much blasphemy than is required to get their points across.

And yes- I know that’s how kids in high school talk to each other.

I have teens, yo! I get it.

It doesn’t mean I have to like it, or support it, or encourage my younger children to follow in their footsteps.

Love, Simon doesn’t have any nudity or sexual acts portrayed on screen other than fully clothed embraces and kisses by a few teen characters. And the parents (awwww… so cute!).

 

What Ages Should See Love, Simon?

My children are 15, 13, 11 and 6. Here are my recommendations for each age based on my children’s maturity levels.

Teen/Tweens Should be good to go. And I’d say this is an important movie for them to see. They are probably already asking to go and they definitely are going to be talking about it at school. So take them!

8 to 10-years old Depends greatly on the maturity level and your families feelings about language. It felt a little too coarse for me and my family, so my youngest will skip this one for now. But that was my only real hesitation.

7 and Under  My vote is to leave them at home. Just a little too young for the overall subject manner.

 

Bottomline parent movie review: Go see it. Take your kids if they are over the age of 12 or so. It’s important that this movie does well in the theaters so more movies like it can happen.

And I, for one, always need more Rom-Coms in my life!

 

 

 

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