“Revolutionary” new teenage romantic comedy

“Love, Simon” is a coming-of-age story, a romantic comedy, and a mystery. The film, opening March 16, is based on Becky Albertalli’s 2015 young adult novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It’s the first major film which focuses on a teen’s coming out story.

via NY Times

Typically the gay character in a studio-backed teenage romance is the supportive best friend spouting quips and offering sage relationship or fashion advice. That is, unless he’s walking a darker path. An IMDB list of the best GLBT teenage movies, for example, begins with “My Own Private Idaho” (1991), about two hustlers. Films closer to the tone of “Love, Simon,” like “Edge of Seventeen” (1998) or “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012), were released by boutique studios. Likewise, specialty divisions of major studios produced “Brokeback Mountain” and “Call Me by Your Name.” But the 17-year-old Simon Spier is reminiscent of the characters played by Molly Ringwald in the 1980s heyday of teenage romances like “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink.”

According to Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of GLAAD, “Twenty percent of millennials identify as LGBTQ. Having a film available to them is a breakthrough.”

WATCH the trailer: