Not recommended under 13; PG to 15 (Sexual references, adult themes)
This topic contains:
Children under 13 | Not recommended |
Children 13 - 15 | Parental Guidance recommended |
Children 15+ | OK for this age group |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Love, Simon |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Coarse language |
Length: | 110 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Simon (Nick Robinson) is a teenage boy who seems to have it all. He has loving and liberal parents, Mum, Emily (Jennifer Garner) and Dad, Jack, (Josh Duhamel) a not so macho man, and a younger sister Nora (Talitha Bateman) whom he adores and a group of really good friends. Simon drives his new car (a birthday present) to school each morning and collects his friends Leah (Katherine Langford) and Nick, (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) whom he’s known since primary school, and Abby (Alexandra Shipp) who is new to the school. But Simon has a big secret, one he’s too afraid to tell anyone about, which is that he’s gay.
He finds a soul mate in an online blog and they anonymously communicate with each other over the course of a few weeks. Simon is falling in love with this person but doesn’t know who he is. He imagines it might be one of several people he meets along the way. Then one of his ‘friends’, Martin (Logan Miller), who has been blackmailing him by threatening to ‘out’ him in public unless he gets him together with Abby, does the unthinkable and publishes all of Simon’s emails. Simon goes into a tailspin but discovers who his real friends are and what they value most about him.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Teenage relationships; Sexual orientation
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are a lot of sexual references in this movie, some examples include:
There is no nudity but some sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is quite a bit of coarse language in this movie, including:
Frequent use of the following words:
Infrequent use of:
Love, Simon is a poignant, coming of age teenage movie with a difference. It explores the difficulties gay young people have with talking about their sexual orientation to their friends and families. It is bold and heartfelt, engendering empathy with the characters. While not suitable for younger viewers, it will appeal to older teens.
The main messages from this movie are to be honest with yourself and those you love and to have the courage to be the person you want to be.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as.
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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