March 16^th marked the day that almost ALL of us YA bookworms have been looking for: the premiere of Love, Simon, the film adaptation to Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. For me, March 17^th was even bigger for me because I went to see Love, Simon in theaters! It’s definitely an understatement to say that I am jealous of anyone who was able to attend an advance screening beforehand, so I’m glad that I was then able to complete my mission of seeing the film opening weekend. For those unfamiliar with Love, Simon or Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, the story follows a teenage guy named Simon who has a normal life filled with family, friends, and plenty of iced coffee- except for that fact that no one knows he’s gay.

Before jumping into anything else, I have to say that I adored Love, Simon. I often get nervous about book-to-movie adaptations not doing the book justice and while there were a few changes (like many book-to-movie adaptations), I think Love, Simon perfectly captured the message behind Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. And yes, I know Nick Robinson doesn’t perfectly match the physical characteristics of book Simon, but to me, he was the perfect Simon. He captured the Simon we all know and love, humor and awkwardness included. One of my favorite light-hearted scenes with Simon was when him and Leah dress up as John Lennon and Yoko Ono for Halloween, and Nick mistakes him as fancy Jesus. Speaking of Leah, whose wardrobe and character I loved, since we now have Love, Simon, does that mean we’ll get an on-screen version of Leah on the Offbeat??

Out all of the things I loved about this movie, my favorite aspect was .. Simon’s bedroom! Seriously, I already have the blueprints going for me to have chalkboard walls around my bed! Thanks to Becky and Adam Silvera’s Twitter accounts, I knew there was a lot of detail put into Simon’s bedroom. I think I’m going to have to buy the movie when it eventually comes out on DVD just so I can pause Simon’s bedroom and analyze everything on his desk and walls! A few things I noticed were copies of Adam ’s More Happy Than Not and Becky’s The Upside of Unrequited (and maybe Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also a Star?), some Adventure Time Funkos, a Hamilton playbill, a UCLA poster, and of course, a Hufflepuff sticker! Also speaking of Becky and Adam, who else caught them as extras at Bram’s Halloween party?? The two authors both wore masks, and Adam’s mask was complimented by a unicorn onesie. I obviously want to watch the film again for a few reasons, but I’d love to rewatch to try and pick up on any more cameos.

A few of my fellow bloggers have mentioned on Twitter that they cried from the moment Simon tells Abby he’s gay to the end of the film, and while I can understand their feels, the only scene that really had me wishing that I brought Kleenex was when Simon’s dad tells him that it doesn’t matter that he’s gay and that he how regretted not realizing sooner that Simon was gay. Josh Duhamel is one of my favorite actors and I just loved seeing him as Simon’s dad. While Simons’ family obviously isn’t the focus of the film, I wish we got to spend a bit more time with them.

Some of the funniest scenes took place during the Cabaret rehearsals. While my high school memory doesn’t seem to remember teachers being able to talk so freely (Haley, it’s a rom-COM for a reason), I LOVED Ms. Albright’s remarks (specifically when she shuts down two of the guys who make fun of Simon). I of course have to mention my movie-buddy & Netflix obsessed sister’s reaction to the first Cabaret scene, where she realized that there were TWO actors from Thirteen Reasons Why in the movie—she was freaking out that both Katharine Langford and Miles Heizer were part of the cast.

Overall, Love, Simon met my expectations and more, and the film marks the beginning of many more YA book-to-movie adaptations to come in 2018 & 2019!

Have you seen Love, Simon? What other book-to-movie adaptations are you looking forward to? Share in the comments!