A One Mann’s Movies review of “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” (2023).
As I ultimately discovered, through the excellent documentary on Amazon Prime “Judy Blume Forever“, Judy Blume was a force-of-nature in teen-literature in the 1970’s for producing ‘real’ books about the experiences and worries of kids in and around puberty. She tackled subjects like menstruation, sex, masturbation, orgasms and even topics like teenage bereavement head-on. As a result, her books were being burnt by the far-right in the Reagan era and she was getting death-threats. (Watch the documentary… it’s really good). Now, for the first time, one of her most famous, albeit clumsily titled, books “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” has been brought to the big screen.
I saw this as a Cineworld Unlimited screening, and the film opens nationwide in the UK this coming Friday, May 19th.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) is a typical 12 year old, uprooted from her NYC life to go and live in a sleepy little town of Farbrook in New Jersey. Although supported by her loving Jewish father Herb (Benny Safdie) and Christian mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams) she leaves behind her favourite Granny, Herb’s mum Sylvia (Kathy Bates), and is unhappy about that. Dumped into a new school and a new clique of puberty-obsessed friends, Margaret can’t wait for the trappings of womanhood to develop and is constantly asking God for help.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC: “Mild sex references, references to racism, emotional upset”. I don’t actually think this is right in that I don’t think there are any references to “racism” per se. There is a clash of views over religion – Jewish and Christian faiths – but I don’t think it’s right to class this as racism is it?).
Talent:
Starring: Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Benny Safdie, Elle Graham, Amari Alexis Price, Katherine Mallen Kupferer.
Directed by: Kelly Fremon Craig.
Written by: Kelly Fremon Craig. (Based on the book by Judy Blume).
Twitter Handle: #ItsMeMargaret.
Granny love. Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) goes to stay with Sylvia (Kathy Bates) for a full-on weekend in New York. (Source: Lionsgate.)
“Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” Review:
Positives:
- There’s a positive energy to the movie that I really liked, supported by some great cast performances.
- Abby Ryder Fortson really manages to avoid the ‘brat-kid-actor’ tag, delivering a cracking little performance. (If, like me, you were trying to place Ryder Fortson, she previously played Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie in “Ant Man” and “Ant Man and the Wasp“).
- Kathy Bates, who from the trailer I was expecting to be really annoying, was actually very strong as the Jewish granny, determined to stick her religious oar in at every opportunity!
- Another standout performance for me was by Amari Alexis Price, in her film debut, as the young friend Janie Loomis. A nicely understated bit of acting by the child star.
- But the performance that really holds the whole movie together is Rachel McAdams, who is just so personable and joyous that it is difficult not to smile when she is on the screen. She’s already proved her comic chops in numerous films including “Mean Girls”, “Game Night” (a personal favourite) and “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga“. And here she again excels: her comic timing and facial expressions are superb.
- The puberty-related subject matter is approached sensitively. I hate to think what the Farrelly Brothers would have done with this story!
- The production design, setting up the Simon’s lower-middle-class suburban house in the 70’s, is excellent.
Negatives:
- This main negative here came from the illustrious Mrs Movie Man, who declared the whole manner in which there was a triumphant bathroom dance between mother and child when (slight spoiler) her period arrived as “totally unrealistic”. (She was coming at this, however, from a position of PTSD in having to relive, through this film, some of the most traumatic years of her own life!)
- Elle Graham who plays Nancy Wheeler (the Rachel McAdams “Mean Girls” equivalent part!) is perhaps a tad shrill. It grated on me a bit (but then perhaps that was the idea).
Summary Thoughts on “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret”
There are just SOOOOOO many films about dysfunctional families – mums fighting dads fighting teenage sons/daughters – that it is quite a surprise to find a movie in which there is a strong core of love at the heart of Margaret’s life. True, there is religious conflict introduced between her parents and their parents. But the family unit is a strong one. This leads to my general impression of this film being a “nice one” that I think few could strongly dislike.
Is it going to go down as a movie classic? No. But it is a pleasant and enjoyable cinema outing that I think will do well with mums/dads taking their 10-and-up sons/daughters to.
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Trailer for “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzRzojHC3iE .
