Love, Simon

Today I saw Love, Simon, starring Nick Robinson and Logan Miller.

Simon (Robinson) is a closeted gay high school student, scared to come out to his friends and family. He begins a secret correspondence with another closeted gay student and all is well until their emails become intercepted.

Without knowing each other's identity, they can't meet in person—at least not yet—and it's a race to keep the one person in-the-know from spilling the beans on both of them.

Simon is incredibly likable—he's a sweet older brother to his only sister, respectful to his parents and teachers, and genuine with his close-knit group of friends. He's someone everyone wants to be around, which is why it's so painful to watch him grapple with this dilemma alone.

In fact, what's very refreshing about the film is that nearly everyone (save for the "interceptor" and a few childish a-holes at school) is likable. We aren't hit over the head with hate, though there are prominent race and LGBTQ themes throughout the movie. As a viewer, I very much appreciated that.

Also refreshing are lighthearted scenes (one involving a Whitney Houston song is especially lovely) that are peppered throughout to keep it from feeling like an After School Special™or heavy drama.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer—you'll very much enjoy this movie if you go see it!

~~~

Chalk

Today I saw Chalk, starring Troy Schremmer and Shannon Haragan.

The film is staged like a fake documentary, which follows a group of teachers and administrators through a school year at an American high school.

Many of the stereotypical things about schools are targeted for laughs (nervous new teachers, the PE teacher being mistaken for a lesbian, gossip in the faculty lounge, etc.) as this is a comedy, but it wasn't quite strong enough to live up to its trailer.

I remember seeing a preview for this a few weeks back and getting very excited. Schools are a big part of my life—I now work at one, I once was a teacher and I am friends with several teachers. The culture is never dull, the stories are almost always funny and there is plenty of natural 'material' to draw on.

But as I was watching this movie, I got the sense they didn't really know how to harness that material without dumbing it down to a nearly slapstick level, and that left me longing for a real documentary to get the job done.

What I found most distracting were the actors' attempts to portray their roles as if they were guest stars on the American version of The Office. Many 'serious' diary entries to what I guess was supposed to be a 'home journal' were spliced in with 'action' shots and that didn't work at all.

The dialogue delivery was intentionally campy, when it should have really been more 'serious' to echo sincerity...THAT would have been hilarious.

They were just too conscious of their characters for it to be flawless.

That said, there were some funny moments—namely happy hour and the history teacher who takes away his student's cell phone.

Superbad

Tonight I attended a screening of Superbad, which stars Michael Cera and Jonah Hill.

It was the topic of Cinebanter #38, and the direct download of that show is available here.