Love, Simon (2018)

In between the releases of Marshall Brickman’s Simon (1980) and Diego Vicentini’s Simon (2023), film fans “came out” to see Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon (2018). Based on Becky Albertalli’s novel “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” (2015), this PG-13 pic centers around Simon Spier (Nick Robinson). He’s a teen who keeps his gayness a secret — until his classmate Martin Addison (Logan Miller) threatens to blackmail him. Instead of waiting for the awkward vice principal (Tony Hale) to do something about the situation, Simon realizes he must take matters into his own hands and come out to everyone he loves. This includes his mother Emily (Jennifer Garner), father Jack (Josh Duhamel) and sister Nora Spier (Talitha Bateman); his best buds Abby Susso (Alexandra Shipp), Leah Burke (Katherine Langford), and Nick Eisner (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.); and the object of his desire Abraham “Bram” Greenfeld (Keiynan Lonsdale). In one scene, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Lonsdale mack out on top of a Ferris wheel. Their smooch packed such a punch, it won Best Kiss at the MTV Movie & Film Awards! Nick also picked up a Rising Star Award at the Maui Film Festival and an Ally for Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign. If that’s not impressive enough, the film won Choice Movie – Comedy at the Teen Choice Awards, where Nick was named Choice Breakout Movie Star. In addition to its critical success, Love, Simon was a box office smash. That’s why we can’t wait to see the raunchier sequel: Lust, Simon.