Movie Review: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A truly wonderful coming of age film. 

Despite never having been a tween girl and having been through much of what Margaret goes through here, I found myself feeling incredibly moved by this film. Much of this is due to the integrity and heartfelt-ness of this movie. There was not one second of this film that felt false or phoned in. Margaret becomes a real person to us, and we deeply care about her and because of this we become deeply invested in everything that happens to her. Everything that is important to her becomes important to us and we feel every embarrassing moment and every personal triumph along the way. Much of this is due to the wonderful script by Kelly Fremon Craig (who also directed the film). This script in many ways stays very true to Judy Blume's beloved book (that this is based on). It is clear that the filmmaker connected deeply with the book and this can be felt every second of screen time. Much of this is also due to the incredible acting of child actress, Abby Ryder Fortson. Despite being in the same film as many really talented adult actors, this young actress not only steals the film but becomes the heart of it. She gets every moment and emotion (both big and small) exactly right, and there is no doubt she put her whole heart into this movie. I can't see how someone can watch this performance and not care about Margaret and want to give her a hug every time she is sad or feels isolated or alone. This is no easy feat and I hope that Abby goes far in this business because she deserves to. 

This film discusses such ideas as religion, faith, prejudice, puberty, growing up and the harmful effects of gossip. Yet it does all of these things, without ever feeling heavy handed or overbearing. It goes over each of these subjects in a way that is both very intelligent and very approachable for anyone. This movie left me with a lot of food for thought that is still going through my mind. This is especially true of this movie's approach to religion. This film does not tell anybody what to believe nor does it give an answer to the question of whether or not there is a God. What it does instead is takes an intelligent and thought-provoking look at religion and its place in our lives and lets us decide what we are going to make of it. No matter what you believe this movie will cause you to look inward at your own faith. The look at puberty is also wonderfully done. It is done in a way that feels open and honest, while always feeling completely tasteful and not alienating those who have not gone through any of this. This film also heavily benefits from the fact that we see everything through Margaret's eyes and how that makes these complex topics easy to understand and emotionally involving, while never once talking down to the audience. This movie is also helped by some incredibly funny humor. I laughed quite a bit watching this film as did the other people in the theater with me.

This is a truly wonderful movie that manages to be both great art and great entertainment.