"Love, Simon" is the movie adaption of the book, written by Becky Albertalli, "Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda." The movie was from Twentieth Century Fox and is about Simon Spier, your regular high school student who has a huge secret: no one knows he’s gay. The movie is making huge steps in terms of diversity and inclusion, but the book came first, and that is what we shall judge it against!
Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead.
1. Simon’s dog was supposed to be what Leah loved the most about Simon.
Book: Golden retriever.
Movie: Little, scrappy dog.
2. The love triangle between Leah, Abby, and Nick left Simon alone and didn’t add a straight love story to complicate Simon’s life more.
Book: Leah loved Nick.
Movie: Leah loved Simon.
3. The principal, Mr. Worth shouldn’t have existed at all.
Book: Ms. Albright was the only teacher mentioned.
Movie: Mr. Worth was the corny, quirky principal and unnecessary to the plot. Yes, the scene of him wearing the rainbow pin was a sweet moment, but Ms. Albright in the book was an awesome character who stood behind Simon.
4. Simon’s second sister didn’t exist.
Book: Simon had two sisters who were named Alice and Nora. Alice was in college and Nora was in high school.
Movie: Nora was his only sibling and while she kept her same personality and interests, the movie left out a sweet moment between all the siblings that the book had.
5. The final scene on the Ferris wheel.
Book: Simon and Blue meet on the Tilt-a-Whirl because of their email conversation about being nauseated and how Blue always knows the correct grammar, like how it’s “you feel nauseated” not nauseous.
Movie: They met on the Ferris Wheel which, in hindsight, is a more romantic place than the Tilt-a-Whirl.
6. The title was changed from the book to the movie.
Book: "Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda"
Movie: "Love, Simon"
7. Not hanging out in the basement.
Book: Simon would walk Bieber and meet everyone in Nick’s basement to watch Nick play video games and just talk with his friends.
Movie: They didn’t show Leah, Abby, Nick, and Simon all hanging out, so we didn’t get to see their group’s dynamic.
8. Martin didn’t ask Abby out in front of the whole school on the football field.
Book: Martin was just embarrassed by Abby turning him down because Simon told Martin to go for it and she was interested.
Movie: The reason Martin leaked Simon’s emails was that he didn’t want people making fun of him anymore.
9. Leah, Simon, and Nick never went to the gay bar.
Book: Simon gets drunk at a gay bar and meets someone who helps him feel more comfortable.
Movie: Without this scene, we didn’t get to see how supportive his friends could be.
10. The quote, “White shouldn’t be the default any more than straight should be the default. There shouldn’t even be a default.”
Book: Easily my favorite quote from the whole book. Simon didn’t expect Blue to be black and when Bram showed up he was surprised but realized his own defaults.
Movie: They didn’t mention anything about Bram’s race and focused on the love story.
11. The quote, “People are like houses with vast rooms.”
Book: This quote showed one of the ways Simon fell in love with Bram was because of his insight and view of the world.
Movie: The quote wasn’t included and it hurt the movie by not showing one of the moments Simon and Bram shared.
12. Simon and Bram never went back to Simon’s house after the show.
Book: Simon’s sisters and friends are all a part of the plan to help Bram and Simon get some time alone and it shows how supportive Simon’s family and friends are.
Movie: The only sweet moment Simon and Bram shared was on the Ferris Wheel and driving to school at the end of the movie.
13. They were supposed to be juniors and they were seniors.
Book: They were juniors and talked about activities that the seniors got to do but they couldn’t.
Movie: Without including this, they made it seem like Simon’s time at Creekwood High School was over and the story wouldn’t be going any farther.
