Love, Simon
20th Century Fox | Release Date: March 16, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMar 16, 2018
Director Greg Berlanti, who has helmed a string of hit television shows as producer and writer, uses the familiar teenage romance genre to tell an LGBTQ story, and in so doing makes these tropes feel fresh, fun, entertaining. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittMar 15, 2018
Not only historically significant but also truly excellent. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 15, 2018
A wonderful, uplifting, endearing, thoroughly entertaining story. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackMar 15, 2018
As a consumer, it is simply your responsibility to see it, just so that many more Love, Simons can be made. There are worse things to spend your money on than this adorable teen gay comedy whose worst quality is its boring straight man. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeMeredith GoldsteinMar 15, 2018
It’s not exactly like the novel, but it captures the best parts of it. Read full review
88
The Associated PressSandy CohenMar 15, 2018
Love, Simon is a universal story, even if you’re not a gay teenager. The challenge of figuring out who we are and standing comfortably in that identity might begin in high school, but often lasts a lifetime. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 14, 2018
Love, Simon is a John Hughes movie for audiences who just got woke. And for all its attempts not to offend, it's a genuine groundbreaker. Read full review
83
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerMar 16, 2018
In making a light, easygoing, heartfelt teen rom-com with a gay kid at its center, Berlanti and company have made a top-tier example of a familiar form with one essential and very important difference. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 15, 2018
There’s some real, weird fun in secondary characters like Tony Hale’s desperate-to-be-down principal, Natasha Rothwell’s exasperated drama teacher, and Logan Miller’s Martin, a theater kid so eager to please he practically turns himself inside out. Read full review
83
The PlaylistKimber MyersMar 1, 2018
Love, Simon is filled with details and specificity, making Simon’s story feel real and authentic in each moment, from the music he listens to to the costumes seen at a Halloween party, elevating it above what could have been the after school special version of the same story. Read full review
80
EmpireTerri WhiteApr 9, 2018
The high school teen romcom is reborn for 2018. Funny, sentimental and smart: John Hughes would be proud. Read full review
80
UproxxEmma StefanskyMar 16, 2018
What’s different about Love, Simon is how non-different from other teen movies it actually is. It’s extremely normal, very safe, and that’s what makes it so remarkable. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid GoldbergMar 15, 2018
Love, Simon feels lived-in and self-assured, two traits its fans will want to adopt as well. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghMar 15, 2018
It’s disheartening that it took until 2018 to get a gay version of this adolescent staple from a major studio. But at least it was worth the wait. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 14, 2018
Here is a movie made for and about the people who believe they are the essence of American normalcy, a movie that dutifully flatters and celebrates them even as it works to expand who that normalcy actually includes. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeFeb 27, 2018
It’s a hugely charming crowd pleaser, an infectiously entertaining coming of age film that feels primed to attract and retain a loyal eager-to-rewatch audience. There’s a wealth of snappy dialogue and what feels like an attentive grasp of teenage life. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 26, 2018
Love, Simon proves groundbreaking on so many levels, not least of which is just how otherwise familiar it all seems, from laugh-out-loud conversations in the school hallways to co-ed house parties where no one drives drunk, and no one gets past first base. Read full review
80
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 26, 2018
Queer pundits will no doubt take “Love, Simon” to task for being too white, too cisgender, too heteronormative. And they won’t be wrong. But even if this is “Call Me By Your Name” through the lens of the Disney Channel, there’s a place in the culture for adolescent gay kids to enjoy the shiny, shallow, pop-song-infused coming-of-age stories that their straight peers consume on a daily basis. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMar 14, 2018
It’s a cliched happy ending, one you’ve seen countless times before, but never in this way. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 15, 2018
It’s a canny blend of “Degrassi” and John Hughes, but here the kids mostly behave like angels. Love, Simon is the rare, feel-good gay movie. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 14, 2018
Love, Simon is charming and likeable in much the same way that heterosexual teen comedies can be charming and likeable. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 14, 2018
Movies about coming of age and out of the closet are nothing new, but Love, Simon is so honest, funny and real it never fails to capture your imagination and lift your spirit. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineRichard Scott LarsonFeb 27, 2018
Greg Berlanti's charmingly heartfelt film is a remarkably successful attempt to give shape to the experience of the closet by drawing an incredibly intimate portrait of a teenage boy about to leave it behind. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaMar 22, 2018
As it turns out, the Ferris wheel is the other perfect parallel to Love, Simon, not the most thrilling ride in the park, a little slow, utterly predictable, perhaps even welcoming the label of “boring.” But like the chorus of a latter-day Taylor Swift song, it will lift you up, goddammit, and good luck trying to stop it. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMar 15, 2018
The emotional resonance may be surprising given the movie’s relentless gloss, but it’s real. The spectacularly charming cast, led by the young Nick Robinson in the title role (who brings a knowing touch of 1980s Matthew Broderick to some of his line readings), puts it all across, including a genuinely crowd-pleasing ending. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMar 14, 2018
There may be little in this movie that you haven't seen before, but the perspective through which you're seeing it can make all the difference. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJon FroschFeb 26, 2018
It’s an expertly carved chunk of cheese. But taken on its own, limited terms, Love, Simon is also a charmer — warm, often funny and gently touching, tickling rather than pummeling your tear ducts.
67
IndieWireJude DryFeb 27, 2018
It’s too bad that the movie isn’t as vibrant, funny, and entertaining as the community it wishes to represent — but it’s a start. Read full review
65
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMar 16, 2018
As much as Love, Simon’s winning, if slightly bowdlerized, coming-out story initially made me yearn for an altered youth, it’s since made me yearn even more for stories that reflect my gay life today, or my gay life as it might be years from now. (And your gay life, and your gay life, and your gay life.) Read full review
63
Washington PostMark JenkinsMar 15, 2018
Well-made and likable, without any major missteps. It’s also just a little bland. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMar 15, 2018
As we watch this safely-under-the-speed-limit parade of lumpen suburban regularness, though, we begin to wonder if director Greg Berlanti (TV’s Arrow and Riverdale) has emphasized sexuality at the expense of personality. This kid makes Ferris Bueller look like a dangerous radical. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 12, 2018
It’s a casual breakthrough, normalising what was once a taboo. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 15, 2018
The most touching scene is the most conventional, an intimate moment between Simon and his mother, Emily (Jennifer Garner). Will she or won’t she accept him as the person he is? Love, Simon is many things, but not Greek tragedy. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerFeb 27, 2018
Love, Simon is touching as a gesture. As entertainment, it’s nothing Degrassi hasn’t done better. Read full review
55
The AtlanticDavid SimsMar 13, 2018
I’m happy to see a major-studio teen film wrestle with homosexuality and life in the closet as more than a comical subplot, even though I wish there had been a more engaging character to build that progress around. Read full review
50
The Film StageDaniel SchindelMar 15, 2018
Over two shapeless hours, it walks through sequences that announce their emotional gravitas while only sporadically earning it. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 14, 2018
The word that best fits it as a comedy, a romance and a coming-of-age story is “innocuous.” It’s just that at this point in history, after Neil Patrick Harris, after “Glee!,” “innocuous” doesn’t feel like enough. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandMar 14, 2018
Greg Berlanti’s movie about a teenager’s coming out is nothing if not sincere. More to the point, it’s not very much except sincere. Read full review
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