Review: Love, Simon (UK Cert 12A)

Imagine, if you will, if John Hughes made a high school movie which had a gay love story as its primary relationship. You'd pretty much get Love, Simon, a truly beautiful and wonderful comedy-drama written by Elizabeth Berger and  Isaac Aptaker- based on the novel Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli- and directed by Greg Berlanti (The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl). 

Simon Spier is an average 17 year old. He has a warm, loving, supportive family. He has a good group of friends. And he's gay, but he's not out. When an anonymous post on a school forum appears from another closeted student who calls himself 'Blue', Simon impulsively reaches out to him and they start to e-mail each other. Simon starts to fall for 'Blue' but, when a fellow student attempts to blackmail Simon by threatening to leak the e-mails, Simon must try and preserve his secret whilst trying to find out 'Blue''s true identity. 

Where the hell was this film when I was growing up? I really could have done with such a positive representation of LGBT+ youth during my teenage years. Simon is as far from a walking stereotype as you can imagine and, whilst there is another gay teen in the film who is very camp and very obvious (his coming-out scene is a particular highlight as a group of girls have to feign surprise at his news with one going so over-the-top), he totally owns it and is comfortable in his skin. Whilst some of what Simon does in the name of trying to stop himself being outed is kinda cruel to the other people involved, it comes from a place of fear which is totally understandable. He's worried about being rejected or hated; of course, when the inevitable does happen and he is outed, that isn't an issue. 

Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) gives a wonderfully warm and empathetic central performance as Simon. Even when he's meddling in others' love lives (all to stop himself being outed), you can't help but feel for him. He really captures that uncertainty and that inner tension, and- by the end- you're really rooting for him and 'Blue' to get together so they can have their 'great love story'. It's an accomplished and very authentic performance. 

Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why) is Simon's oldest friend Leah, and the rapport between her and Robinson is just lovely. It feels very real. Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse) is Abby, a relatively new member to the group, but a young woman who knows her own mind. Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Spider-Man: Homecoming) is very sweet as Nick, Simon's friend who ends up unwittingly bearing the brunt of Simon's desperate dating machinations. 

Logan Miller (The Walking Dead) has a difficult role to pull off: he's Martin, the student who blackmails Simon in order to get his help to get with Abby, but Martin is such a weaselly little dweeb that you almost feel sorry for him at the same time as utterly hating him. Martin's ultimate humiliation is almost unbearable, but he just- JUST- about redeems himself at the end. There are lovely performances by Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash) and Joey Pollari (American Crime) as Simon's schoolfriend Bram and a local waiter called Lyle- both of whom could be 'Blue'.  

Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel are great in support as Simon's parents Emily and Jack; their individual reactions to Simon's coming out are very different, but both are emotionally affecting in their own way. There's a wonderful supporting turn by Natasha Rothwell as drama teacher Ms Albright, a strong and no-nonsense woman who gets one of the best scenes when she lays into two homophobic students in the cafeteria. The only performance which doesn't work for me is that of Tony Hale, who plays vice principal Mr Worth who is trying to be 'down with the kids' but misses by a country mile. It's excruciating, but I'm sure that's more of an issue with the script. 

There are some wonderful flights of fancy in the film- such as a scene where Simon imagines his friends coming out to their parents as straight, and a dance routine to Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)' which even Simon thinks is a bit too gay. There's also a wonderful ambiguity used throughout when it comes to the identity of 'Blue'- similar to that used in The Limehouse Golem- where, as Simon imagines different people as 'Blue', they take over the narration. 

Unashamedly romantic, funny, poignant, touching, and very authentic, Love, Simon is one of the most positive LGBT+ films I've seen in a long time. Hell, never mind the labels, it's one of the best films I've seen so far this year. Give it a go. 

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tez

Love, Simon is on general release in the UK from 6th April 2018. 

Review: Dallas Buyers Club (UK Cert 15)

There was once a time when there'd have been a better chance of hell freezing over than seeing the words 'Matthew McConaughey' and 'Oscar nominee' in the same sentence. Performances in films like How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Failure To Launch, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past and Sahara certainly didn't trouble the Academy. However, over the past three years, McConaughey has gone from dimwatt romantic lead to Serious Actor, giving strong performances in The Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, and Mud, culminating with a Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination for Dallas Buyers Club.

Set in the 1980s, Dallas Buyers Club is based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a Texas man diagnosed with HIV and given thirty days to live by his doctors. Declaring that there's nothing that could kill him in that time, Woodroof looks for a way to prolong his life and finds drugs and treatments in Mexico which could help - the only problem is, they're not approved by the FDA and therefore cannot be sold legally in the US. But by using a loophole that allows personal use only, Woodroof starts to import the drugs and sets up the titular buyers club- where people pay a fee to join a club but then receive the drugs 'for free'. However, it's not long before the FDA come knocking... It's an intense and powerful drama with a refreshing lack of schmaltzy, saccharine sentiment underpinned by three bravura performances.

McConaughey's central performance as Woodroof is exceptional and he is truly deserving of all the plaudits that have come his way. Gaunt and hollow-eyed, McConaughey lost nearly three stone to show the character's physical deterioration (and that physical change was still evident when he filmed The Wolf Of Wall Street). Woodroof is an unlikely hero- a racist, homophobic redneck- but such is the intensity of McConaughey's performance, you can't help but root for the bloke (even if you don't like him all that much). The scene which reveals how he contracted HIV is nicely underplayed and quite elliptical, like much in the film. It's a truly remarkable and committed performance.

No less committed in his role is Jared Leto as Rayon, a transgender woman who Woodroof meets at the hospital and who helps out when Woodroof begins the buyers club. Their relationship is initially spiky but then falls into a kind of respect. This is his first film role in nearly five years, and Leto is just brilliant, a fragile yet ferocious performance, equally deserving of his awards plaudits. The other strong performance is from Jennifer Garner who plays Dr. Eve Saks, who helps to treat Woodroof in his initial diagnosis. There's a great spark between Garner and McConaughey but the film neatly eschews a romantic storyline for something less cliched and much more emotionally affecting. Other great performances come from Griffin Dunne as Dr. Vass, Woodroof's contact in Mexico, Denis O'Hare as Eve's boss Dr. Sevard and Michael O'Neill as FDA officer Richard Barkley.

The film was shot in 25 days for around $5 million and was repeatedly turned down by Hollywood studios because of the subject matter. This is an important story and deserves to be told (although, like most films, there has been some dramatic license used). Much like other heavyweight dramas out at the moment, this is a film to admire if not exactly enjoy but is worth seeing for the tremendous central performances.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez