Daily Times

“Everyone, myself included, can relate to Simon and his journey, and trying to find yourself and come to terms with yourself in a way that feels comfortable,” the film’s 22-year-old star Nick Robinson said at a recent preview screening in Los Angeles.

Directed by Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” “Supergirl”) while he was on break from his various TV jobs last January, “Love, Simon” is based on Becky Albertalli’s young adult novel “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.”

Robinson (“Jurassic World,” “Everything, Everything”) plays Simon Spier, a high school senior in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, who hasn’t told his family or friends he’s gay.

Compounding his problems, Simon has fallen for “Blue,” a fellow closeted classmate he chats with online, although he has no idea of his paramour’s true identity.

“Love, Simon” figures among a number of coming-of-age gay movies released in recent months, including the Oscar-winning “Call Me By Your Name” and “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” which scooped top prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

What makes it unique is that it is a wide-release, mainstream rom-com aimed as much at the Saturday afternoon shopping mall market as the indie-centric festival crowd or motion picture academy.