Things I wish were in the Movie
Better and more accurate emails
The thing after the talent show
Simon being obsessed with Oreos
How Simon came out to Abby
Hourtohour. notetonote @gmail.com
There is so much in the book that wasn’t in the movie. The book did a lot of things better than the movie, and vice versa. So now I’m going to explain all of the points above
Alice is literally one of my favorite characters. She wasn’t super present in the book, but she was still so important. They had to cut a lot of parts from the book out when they cut her from the movie. The Waffle House part after Christmas and they see Martin Addison’s brother. The talent show was cut, which directly segued into Simon and Bram making out after. The FaceTime with Alice talking about ‘The Bachellor’ really play into the family dynamic and show how close they were. Alice orchestrated a lot to the book. She was the most supportive of Simon when he came out. She deserved better.
Of course, without Alice, Theo was cut too. He wasn’t super important, but it would have been nice seeing how Simon is still protecting of his sister, and interested in her life.
The emails are the basis of the entire book and film. In the book, there are so many emails and they show how close they are. It gave the story depth and made their relationship more real and believable. It added personality to both Simon and Blue. It showed a lot of the more flirting side of both of them. Despite the movie showing Simon to be the literal Queen of Disater Gays, the book actually shows he’s really sweet and romantic, while also being a complete cynic. When a lot of them were cut or altered, it took away from the story.
The all day rehearsal (when I did theatre, we called this Theatre-a-thon, so I might accidentally call it that) was precious, and was a big reason Simon thought Cal Price was Blue. It also helped illustrate the closeness of Abby and Simon’s friendship. Overall, it was a great part of the book.
The tilt a whirl was really important. Blue (I’m going to keep calling him Blue, I feel bad if I say his name and spoil it for people who don’t know) really hated the tilt a whirl, they make him sick. He still got on one for Simon. While the Ferris Wheel scene was fantastic and a great reveal, I personally loved the way the book did it better. No, they didn’t kiss or start dating then, but they held hands. It was kind of sweeter in a way. “I want to hold your hand.” “So hold it”
Going along with things the book did better, The Publix date was perfect. It was their first outing together, alone. It was sweet. It was their first kiss, and when they got together. It really solidified their relationship. It showed how awkward they are, but at the same time how much they care for each other.
“We should probably go back to school”
“No, I mean us. I dont know what you want. I don’t know if you’re ready to be out’”
“All in? Like what? Like boyfriend?”
“I mean, yeah. If thats what you want.”
His family dynamic really shows how close they are. Watching 'The Bachellor’ together, the face time with Alice, the French toast tradition (which was still in the movie but not really mentioned). The dynamic his family has helps show how utterly close they are and how much they support each other.
We we’re robbed on missing the talent show. To see Taylor Metternich sing with Leah on drums and Nora shredding a guitar would have been phenomenal. Not really important to the story, but definitely a plus.
Another point for Alice Spier, she orchestrated a full two hours of alone time with his boyfriend, and that is a blessing if you consider how his parents were in the book. It shows how close they are already, and also how not so innocent they are. The book is very realistic to the teenage high school boy dating. The book isn’t shy to touch on the sexual nature of these characters. We were, once again, ROBBED.
OKAY, NORA DRESSING UP AS A TRASH CAN WAS LITERALLY EVERYTHING! It should have at least been in the home video. 100000% dressing up as a trash can this year.
Simon’s obsession with Oreos is perfection at its finest. It kind of was really important, which is weird but it was, at least for the book. In the movie, it served a bit of symbolism when Simon was eating the Halloween Oreos talking to or about Blue, but it could have still been done with Simon literally having an entire diet based on Oreos.
His coming out to Abby was a bit weird in the movie. It was just “Abby.” Followed by a lot of silence, and then “I’m gay”. Yes, coming out is awkward and hard, but it’s more in depth than that. While the book didnt add much more to it, it was just kind of a sweeter moment. Maybe a combination of the two would be better? I liked both of them, but both had their issues. I still feel the book was more genuine and heart touching.
Again, the Emails are so important. Important enough Blue got Simon an Elliot Smith band shirt, his favorite artist of all time, something else we didn’t get in the movie. It was a very sweet gesture, and when you include the note in the shirt, and also the context of the book, it was heart warming.
The email name isn’t super important, except for the fact that it is. It’s a line from one of Simon’s favorite songs, and it’s noted that Blue felt closer to him after listening to it, which inspired him to get the shirt. I typically read over the to and from part of the email sections, but it was still important. Simon even says that Blue “handing me his ipod is like handing me the window to his soul.” Music is incredibly important to Simon, and he can really find out about someone based on the music they like or listen to.
Overall, we were cheated and robbed from some of the greatest parts in the book ever. I understand there’s a lot in the book and you can’t put it all in a 2 hour film, and some things have to be cut. It would have just been so much better had it stuck to every detail to the book, with some exceptions, and had been more of a visual of the book, rather than an almost seperate story. I know people who are writing fanfiction are having a hard time debating on whether to use the book or the movie to base their story off of. They both have similar but different stories, they have different details, and they end in different places
Ill probably do something like this for things I liked better in the movie or things that the movie added.
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