After a gleeful summer at Camp Minnewaska in Vermont, Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) returns home to New York City. Yet her wonderfully brash, beloved bubbe, Sylvia (Kathy Bates, of course), breaks the bad news to her: her parents, Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Safdie), are moving the family to New Jersey. At 11-almost-12-years old, Margaret is already at a tough age, and starting a new school and finding new friends is the literal worst. However, her neighbor, reigning queen bee Nancy (Elle Graham), chooses Margaret for her exclusive group of four friends, who are obsessed with boys, bras, and their periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet \u2014 as its title implies \u2014 Are You There God?<\/em> isn\u2019t just a standard coming-of-age film about friendship and puberty. Margaret has all the requisite struggles of a tween girl, which inform much of the film\u2019s giggly humor, but she has the added complexity of her Jewish dad and formerly Christian mom in 1970. At the encouragement of her teacher (Echo Kellum), she chooses to investigate all her options for religion, attending temple, mass, and a Black church service, all while having regular conversations with a god she\u2019s not sure exists (or can hear her). This level of thoughtfulness and self-reflection would be ambitious even for a wide-release movie aimed at adults, but seeing it in one meant for young viewers is remarkable. Fremon Craig\u2019s script and, of course, Blume\u2019s novel are sensitive to Margaret\u2019s every feeling and thought, validating who she is at a time when kids desperately worry if they\u2019re normal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond its tender treatment of Margaret, Fremon Craig\u2019s screenplay expands the worlds of the other women in her family, letting us see more of the lives of her mother and grandmother. It\u2019s a nice touch to occasionally shift the film\u2019s point of view to theirs, recognizing that the audience for Are You There God?<\/em> won\u2019t be limited to tween girls. It\u2019ll be their mothers, as well as the generations of people who grew up with the book as a touchstone. They\u2019ll see that it isn\u2019t only Margaret who is struggling; the family\u2019s move to the suburbs means that McAdams\u2019 Barbara no longer has a career that drives her. Meanwhile, Bates\u2019 Sylvia is equally unmoored after her granddaughter moved across the river, and she finds it hard to fill her days. Are You There God?<\/em> emphasizes that self-discovery doesn\u2019t end when you\u2019re an adult; you can still find yourself and your purpose years after you\u2019re supposed to have it all figured out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Are You There God?<\/em> is a gem of a film, sweet, funny, and always generous to its characters, even in their worst moments. It feels such big emotions, echoing the giddy highs and crushing lows of being a tween. Those feelings will still move adults too, even if they\u2019re decades past the thrill of a crush and the embarrassment of being the first \u2014 or the last \u2014 person to hit puberty. Fremon Craig and her wonderful cast have made a movie that is honest, hilarious, and full of heart, one that creates empathy for Margaret and everyone else on screen, as well as for the viewers themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” is in theaters tonight.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/are-you-there2-1024x683.jpg\")
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Fremon Craig offers an air of nostalgia, from the oldies-laden soundtrack to the \u201870s-era-appropriate costumes and decor. Yet these trappings aren\u2019t there to wink and give the audience that sense of recognition that some movies rely on to gain your affection. Instead, the filmmaker offers that feeling in the familiar experience of Margaret; whether you got your period in the age of Teenage Softies sanitary napkins or sustainable, organic cotton tampons, there\u2019s identification in the shared experience of changing bodies and growing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\nA-<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n