Cinema Toast: ‘Love, Simon,’ ‘Gringo,’ and more

Gil Mansergh reviews the latest movies|

Love, Simon (PG-13)

Starring: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford, Tony Hale

Directed by: Greg Berlanti

“Love, Simon” captures the essence of what it means (meant?) to be a teen today (or 5 years ago?) by focusing on the core of male and female “best friends forever” who pal around together, stick up for each other against bullies, and casually undercut each other’s confidence with sarcasm and misdirected wit. Simon is a closeted gay male having a secret email relationship with another closeted guy in the same school, and like Becky Albertalli’s book “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” the film uses a high school production of the musical “Oliver” as the glue that holds a group of old and new friends together. Cross-dressing characters (Oliver is played by a girl onstage), mistaken identities, threats to reveal the secret emails, helicopter parents, and the ubiquitous “who am I anyway?” question suggest more than a trace of a classic Shakespearean farce - but one with a positive message.

31/2 pieces of “A John Hughes style film for today’ toast.

(To view more reviews and their trailers, visit Cinema Toast at Petaluma360.com. Comments? E-mail gilmansergh@comcast.net)

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.