Books vs. Movie: Love, Simon [SPOILERS]

Images found here and here

I've been on a YA tear when it comes to my reading, and I recently finished Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Then I watched the movie Love, Simon, which is based on the novel. Here are my main (albeit superficial) take-aways between the two.

1. Clearly the title is different. I think the general American population would go cray-cray if the movie had the word "homo" in it, assuming it means gay when really we are ALL homo sapiens. But this movie is actually about the love story between two teenage boys, so...



2. There were tiny things in the movie that I don't remember from the book. Was his friend Nick (played by Jorge Lendeborg, Jr.) black? Was his little sister really into cooking? Was the school vice principal (played by Tony Hale) really that obnoxious? Did the students perform Cabaret* (it seems a bit racy for high school)? Did Simon have a heart-to-heart with the other openly gay student in the book?



3. I had pictured Martin (played by Logan Miller) to look more like the character Fogell/McLovin from Superbad. But maybe that's just me. And he NEVER made the grand gesture of admitting his love for Abby at the football game in the book; that was just for the film. (GIF found here)

Image found here

4. In the movie, Simon suspects too early that his secret crush "Blue" is actually his friend Bram (played by Keiynan Lonsdale). We don't get that realization until close to the end of the book. And while Blue does stop messaging Simon, I don't remember him deleting his entire email account.

5. While not in the novel, I loved the "coming out" scenes for the straight characters. Simon's friends telling their parents that they're straight and the parents' reactions were so funny. And the rainbow flash mob was perfect! (both videos are above) Side note: SO happy that the characters call their game of beer pong "Beirut." Beirut is throwing balls into the cups, while legitimate beer pong is played with ping pong paddles.

6. Even though Simon did try to help Martin get on Abby's good side in the book, Simon never sabotaged the relationships of his friends the way he did in the movie. He didn't tell Nick that Abby had an older boyfriend or was in love with Martin, and he never forced Nick and Leah to go on a date (by the way, Leah (played by Katherine Langford) does have a crush on Nick in the book; in the movie they switched the script so that she liked Simon.).

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7. At the end of the book, Simon does make some announcement about meeting his love at the Ferris wheel, but there isn't a crowd looking on and clapping for him like in the film. All of that is much more subtle in the book, whereas it's built up dramatically in the movie.

8. The film cut out the gay bar scene (even though a similar scene was indeed in the book). At least you can watch the deleted scene:

Lastly, in the very last scene of the movie, Abby is drinking the wrong iced coffee. Earlier on, we specifically learn that she likes milk in her coffee, but in that last take, she's drinking it black. Oops.

Here's a look at a video that points out the differences they saw:

*GIF found here.