Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023)
dir. Kelly Fremon Craig
Rated: PG-13
image: ©2023 Lionsgate
A new bill has been introduced in the Florida state legislature that will clamp down on what teachers are allowed to say to students when it comes to sex education. Because the kinds of people pushing draconian measures like the “Don’t Say Gay” law and the “Stop WOKE” act find it icky to think of any function involving reproductive organs beyond something that happens “down there,” this new Florida bill would naturally preclude any adult in a school setting from saying anything about menstruation to a child not yet in sixth grade. Never mind that girls can start menstruating as early as age ten.
I’ll issue this next statement in a whisper, in order to protect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, should he read it and get the vapors: (The new movie Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is about girls getting their period.)
Is everyone OK?
Author Judy Blume is no stranger to her work winding up on a banned book list. PEN America is an organization that tracks the titles of books banned in different ISDs across the country. There are currently two Blume titles across five districts (all in either Florida or my home state of Texas) that are too scary for children’s eyes, Forever… and Then Again, Maybe I Won’t.
Blume’s 1970 young adult novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is a cultural touchstone for several generations of readers. (I somehow missed Margaret, but I was a big fan of Blume’s Fudge series of books, beginning with 1972’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I was also pulverized by her 1974 book Blubber, about a fat girl named Linda who is bullied mercilessly by her classmates. As a fat kid, this was the first book I ever read that spoke to who I was and what I was going through in a way no other piece of art ever had; reading it was a transformative experience.)
Writer and director Kelly Fremon Craig has adapted Margaret into a vibrant coming-of-age film that is destined to be praised among OG fans of the book and girls who are currently going through the life changes we see Margaret wrestling with in the movie.
Margaret Simon’s life is turned upside down as soon as she steps through the door of her New York City apartment after returning home from summer camp. Her paternal grandmother unceremoniously drops a bomb, telling Margaret that her parents are moving the family out of NYC and into the New Jersey suburbs because Margaret’s father, Herb, got a promotion at work.
Despite her reservations about the move, Margaret makes fast friends with a group of girls ruled over by Nancy, the kind of girl who knows everything about everything and isn’t shy about letting you know it – Nancy’s overconfident response to Margaret’s family moving into the neighborhood is to tell her new friend that she lives up the street in a house much bigger than Margaret’s.
When her new homeroom teacher, Mr. Benedict, assigns the class three questions to answer about themselves so he can get to know them, he’s intrigued by one of Margaret’s responses. Under the topic, “Something I hate…”, Margaret writes, “I hate religious holidays.”
She explains to Mr. Benedict that her father is Jewish and her mother is Christian, so Margaret doesn’t feel like any of the religious celebrations fit her. Mr. Benedict sees an opportunity. For the year-long research topic his students will work on, he suggests to Margaret that she should choose comparative religion as hers.
One of the most refreshing things about Craig’s adaptation is the wonderful breeziness of the picture’s low stakes. With the increasingly byzantine plotting of each successive MCU release, where the fate of (now) multiple universes regularly hang in the balance, Margaret dials things back to basics, when catching a glimpse of your crush’s underarm hair was a life-defining moment and the excitement and dread of your impending first period ruled your thoughts.
I personally never had those experiences, but, as someone far smarter than I am once observed, movies are empathy-generating machines. Seeing the trials of adolescence from a girl’s perspective enriched my own coming-of-age recollections. It’s worth noting that Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is predominantly white and strictly heteronormative, but that doesn’t detract at all from the film’s positive message of not letting religious differences divide people and the shared experience we all have of our bodies changing during puberty.
To go along with the movie’s relatively low stakes, our villains aren’t monsters. Instead, the antagonists in Margaret are merely vaguely shitty people who should know better. Nancy is a know-it-all who mildly bullies Laura, the one girl in her class who was the first to experience a growth spurt. Laura towering over the other girls and being the first to actually need a bra has condemned her to hearing whispers about herself – care of people like Nancy – saying she lets boys feel her up behind the local A&P. (I was reminded of one of the cruel bits of “wisdom” I gathered during my own adolescence; if a girl developed boobs before any of the other girls, that meant it was because she had already had sex.)
One of the crucial lessons that Margaret learns over the course of the movie is how important it is to choose friends who exemplify your own values. She also learns how destructive religion can be when she asks her mother, Barbara, why she’s never met Barbara’s parents, her maternal grandparents. They told their daughter – Barbara explains to Margaret – that it was her choice to marry a Jewish man, but if she did, they would disown her.
After attending a synagogue service with her paternal grandmother, a protestant service with Nancy, a gospel service with her Black friend, Janie, and stepping into a Catholic confessional at Laura’s urging, Margaret makes (for her) an earthshattering declaration about her nascent religious beliefs in the standout scene of the movie. Barbara’s parents have come for a visit after they receive a Christmas card from their estranged daughter. Margaret’s reaction to her newly-met grandparents asking if she’d like to be baptized within hours of meeting her nearly had me standing up and cheering.
There are also plenty of standout comedic moments tackling adolescence throughout Margaret. The titular character convincing her mom that she needs a bra – she clearly doesn’t, but her new friend group have all decided that one of the requirements for being in the clique is wearing a bra – is one. Margaret and her friend summoning the courage to buy menstrual pads (just in case!) at a local drug store is another. When a male (he’s probably about 16 years old) takes over for the woman at the register right as Margaret and her friend are ready to check out, Margaret throws a tiny container of tic tacs onto the giant box of pads to distract the clerk. Smooth. The chant of the girls as they do exercises to make their boobs bigger (“We must! We must! We must increase our bust!”) is endearing and hilarious.
Relative newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson plays Margaret with a sense of wonder about the world her character is navigating. The 15-year-old Fortson is fresh-faced and gives Margaret the awe of adolescence without being precious about it. Rachel McAdams is a delight as the frazzled Barbara. This is Margaret’s movie, but Craig, who adapted Blume’s book, gives Barbara an interiority as the character must herself adapt to being a fulltime housewife and stay-at-home mom after a career teaching art, which she gave up when the Simons moved to the ‘burbs.
Dad Herb gets less attention, but it was an inspired choice to cast writer/director/actor Benny Safdie in the role. Seeing one-half of the Safdie brothers – who were responsible for the bonkers Good Time and the heart palpitation-inducing Uncut Gems – in a Judy Blume adaptation was bewildering, in a good way. The great Kathy Bates is an absolute delight as Sylvia Simon, Margaret’s Jewish grandma. Bates brings a ray of sunshine to every scene in which she appears.
The 1970s period look for Margaret is wonderfully understated. The same can be said for Hans Zimmer’s warm and comforting score. We’re used to hearing Zimmer’s signature brassy BWWWWWWAH in iconic scores for movies like Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy or Denis Villeneuve’s take on Frank Herbert’s Dune. It was nice to hear Zimmer in a different register here.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is, quite simply, a delight. It tackles issues as big as atheism and as small as the pressure of playing two-minutes-in-the-closet at a party with the boy who every girl thinks is dreamy. Like all of Judy Blume’s fantastic work, the movie based on one of her most iconic books never talks down to its young adult target audience. It treats the trials of adolescence with care and respect, but with enough humor and joie de vivre to keep a smile on your face long after you’ve left the theater.
Why it got 4 stars:
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. captures that awkward stage of adolescence everyone of us had to go through and does so with exuberance and an acknowledgement about how hard it can be. It also has a lot to say about religion and being kind to one another.
Things I forgot to mention in my review, because, well, I'm the Forgetful Film Critic:
- I forgot to give a shout out to another one of my favorite Judy Blume books from childhood: Freckle Juice!
- It was not lost on me that the one teacher we spend any time with in the movie is a Black man. His ideas about kids exploring comparative religion would likely not go over well in the current climate. Public education is under attack right now like never before. The ideas and (even in my small, East Texas town) the different kinds of people I interacted with during my public school years planted the seeds in me for an appreciation of ideas and cultures other than my own.
- I didn’t mention it in the review, but the padding-the-bra montage is hilarious and charming, in an extremely goofy way.
- Kelly Fremon Craig does a nice framing job when Margaret is in the Catholic confessional. She places the camera in such a way to overemphasize how small Margaret is in this intimidating space.
- Speaking of Craig, I heard good things about her debut film, 2016’s The Edge of Seventeen. After seeing Margaret, it’s on my radar as a title to catch up with soon.
Close encounters with people in movie theaters:
- Rae and I saw this at a press/word-of-mouth screening and we had to make the trek (we contemplated bringing snacks) all the way up to Angelika-Plano. The auditorium was packed, and everyone had a good time with the movie. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is now playing exclusively in theaters.