Love, Simon - Blu-ray

Movie: Seventeen-year-old Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) has a loving family, great friends and things are actually going really well at school. And yet, Simon isn't really happy. Because for years he's been carrying around a secret that he hasn't revealed to anyone yet: Simon is gay. And he longs for his first great love. When a classmate comes out anonymously, Simon begins to communicate with the stranger by e-mail. At last he can reveal himself to someone, express his dreams and desires in words. Simon quickly falls in love with his anonymous e-mail friend. But who is this boy? And when is the right time to come out to his family and friends?

With Love, Simon, director Greg Berlanti has followed in the footsteps of the great John Hughes. His coming-of-age story about a teenager's first love, like Hughes' films in his day, plays with the normal everyday concerns of teenagers in an entertaining mix of comedy and drama. Overdrawn, yet very authentic. Most notably, the sympathetically drawn characters make this film adaptation of Becky Albertalli's novel Just Three Words an entertaining treat that offers plenty to laugh at, but at the same time really gets to your heart.

Although Simon's homosexuality is of course a big theme in the story, the makers have managed not to really bring it to the fore. Rather, it becomes quite clear that no matter who you love, the dreams, fears, pains, and happiness are all the same. Greg Berlanti, who is currently enjoying great success as a producer of series such as The Flash, Supergirl and Riverdale, has already shown a good knack for depicting the everyday worries of growing up with his work on highly acclaimed series such as Everwood and Dawson`s Creek, once again manages the difficult balancing act between kitsch and real life, between heart and humour.

For this he can also rely on a very well chosen ensemble. Lead actor Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) is just like his co-stars Katherine Langford (Dead Girls Don't Lie) or Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash) not completely unknown, but still unspent. Especially the acting of the young actors is pleasantly relaxed, which is why the characters they play quickly grow on the audience. They, the sensitive direction and the good script make Love, Simon a wonderfully light-footed, charming and clever teen comedy that deliberately avoids crude jokes and overly stale clichés and evokes memories of genre classics from the 80s with well-drawn characters and amusing dialogue. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The picture is absolutely clean and also features very good detail sharpness in many scenes. The colour scheme is coherent and shows its particularly atmospheric side, especially in the outdoor scenes. So there are just as few notable flaws to complain about here as there are with the sound quality. The DTS 5.1 mix is pleasantly lively and can convince again and again with atmospheric surround moments. For this, there is an overall more than satisfied: good!

Extras: In addition to a very entertaining, unfortunately not subtitled audio commentary by Greg Berlanti (director), Isaac Klausner (production) and Isaac Aptaker (co-writer), the Blu-ray has two dropped scenes (approx. 7:48 min.) on board, one of which is very interesting, but would have clearly harmed the pace of the film. Joining them are short documentaries about the novel (approx. 10:41 min.), the young actors (approx. 9:46 min.), and the filming in Georgia (approx. 5:07 min.) and Atlanta (approx. 2:06 min.). In the course of the theatrical release of the film Greg Berlanti had called for a short film competition on the subject of first love. The winning clip can also be seen in the bonus material (approx. 1:34 min.). The trailer and a picture gallery round off the additional material. Good.

Conclusion: Love, Simon is a wonderful story about first great love. A light hearted, charming and clever teen comedy about friendship and tolerance. The Blu-ray presents this feel-good film in good picture and sound quality. And for interested viewers, there are also a few extras to watch, among which the additional scenes and audio commentary stand out in particular. Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp