10 Best Whodunit Films From Unusual Genres

4. Love, Simon (Teen Coming Out Story)

2018’s Love, Simon was touted as a coming of age comedy about a gay teen in the heartwarming tradition of John Hughes films. But what makes the film truly great is that while it is all of those things, it is also in fact a whodunit. The film starts off with Simon (played by Nick Robinson) telling us through narration that he is gay, but hasn’t come out yet.

The story then kicks off with another student at his high school writing an anonymous blog post saying that he is also in the closet and afraid to come out. Simon immediately sends his own anonymous email to the poster, who goes by the name of “Blue.” Over the course of the school year, Blue and Simon exchange emails to each other, becoming digital pen pals.

Simon pores over the emails for clues about Blue’s true identity, (he is Jewish, his favorite kind of cookie is the orange-filling Halloween Oreo, he has a crush on John Snow from Game of Thrones), and over the course of the school year he comes up with many potential candidates, whom he tries to get to know a little better in person to try and figure out if they are the real Blue.

The whodunit aspect adds a level of intrigue that keeps the comedy/drama from falling down too hard into teen melodrama.