Review: Judy Blume goes Hollywood in ‘Are You There God?…’

Apr 26, 2023, 7:58 AM | Updated: 8:06 am

This image released by Lionsgate shows Rachel McAdams, left, and Abby Ryder Fortson in a scene from...

This image released by Lionsgate shows Rachel McAdams, left, and Abby Ryder Fortson in a scene from "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." (Dana Hawley/Lionsgate via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Dana Hawley/Lionsgate via AP)

There is not a cynical molecule in the big-screen adaptation of “ Judy Blume’s famed coming-of-age novel about the everyday problems of an 11-year-old girl.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been earthshattering for someone to write frankly about puberty for an audience who was going through it, but it was and, in many ways, still is.

In one scene, Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson), who has not yet started menstruating, decides to get ready for it by buying some pads at the convenience store with her friend Janie (Amari Alexis Price). The two girls watch in horror as the older woman at the checkout counter leaves for a break right as they approach and is replaced with a shaggy-haired teenage boy. In a panic, Margaret throws a pack of mints on the boxes. Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig (“The Edge of Seventeen”) relishes in the excruciating awkwardness, letting time slow down as the conveyer belt screeches along.

It’s one of many lovely moments that evoke the strangeness of being 11. Not only are you dealing with the normal pains of everyday existence and coming to terms with the fact that your parents just might be people too — you and all of your classmates are morphing at wildly different and confusing rates. In one of the too-few shots illustrating Margaret’s literal point of view, the camera moves in to gaze at the armpit hair of a local boy, Moose.

The craziest thing about “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” which opens in theaters Friday, is that it took Blume this long — over 50 years — to let Hollywood do it, at least officially. There have been decades of films and series and books that have been created in the image of Blume and her perfectly imperfect young heroine, who may technically be stuck in 1970, but whose problems — faith, crushes, friends, bodies, parents — are evergreen.

This familiarity is both a strength and a weakness of the film. There is a wistful comfort to watching this turbulent year in Margaret’s life during which her parents, Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Safdie), move the family away from New York City, her friends and her beloved grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates, resplendent in sparkly caftans and semi-matching sets) — and into the unknown: suburban New Jersey. But there’s also a feeling that we’ve seen a lot of it before.

One of the things that made the book so meaningful to so many was its unabashed honesty. It didn’t sound filtered or self-conscious. It was just the truth of a young girl’s weird, complicated, naive, cruel, kind and fanciful mind and sometimes it was even unflattering and (gasp) unlikable. It was like peering into another person’s diary that was sort of safe because it’s not your own, but sort of dangerous and transgressive because you realize you’ve also had thoughts like this. In the end it was comforting to know that you weren’t alone.

The film handles Margaret’s confessionals in a haphazard way. Sometimes she talks out loud to herself in her bedroom, sometimes it’s in voiceover. But a lot of that stream of consciousness goes unsaid. And what is said sometimes comes up short.

Without a history with the book, though, there is still plenty to enjoy — from the pleasant presence of Fortson to a truly great performance from McAdams, who elevates every scene she’s in.

“Judy Blume Forever” (now streaming on Prime Video), called “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” a nostalgia piece, meant for women who grew up reading her. Perhaps she knows that for whatever reason, there is a distance between the viewer and Margaret in the film, which is the opposite of the experience of the book. At times, it even feels a little sanitized and rushed — checking off boxes, even dramatic climaxes — to get to the end of the year.

Eleven is a kind of magic age for moviegoing, or at least it was for me. It was the year I started seeing movies in theaters with friends, not parents. When movies are something you’ve chosen — or believe you’ve chosen — to see, they hit a little differently. Some stay with you always, regardless of quality. I had the good fortune to turn 11 in late 1994, when, for whatever reason, Hollywood seemed to be making movies just for me.

This is, of course, not true at all. At the very least, most of the movies were simply not NOT for me, and as a white, hetero girl in suburbia, it was not a niche target to hit. But there were a slew of not insignificant films made with a tween girl in mind: “Little Women,” “Clueless,” “A Little Princess” and “Now & Then,” the most direct descendant of Blume and Margaret, and, on television, “My So-Called Life.”

Movies like these barely exist anymore, and certainly not in theaters. Tween girls would do well to seek “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” out. It has all the makings of a classic for the next generation.

“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” a Lionsgate release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “thematic material involving sexual education and some suggestive material.” Running time: 105 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

___

MPA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

United States News

Three search and rescue workers and a dog approach the site of a building collapse in Davenport, Io...

Associated Press

Missing man’s body recovered at Iowa apartment collapse site; two others still missing

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The body of one of three men who had been missing after the partial collapse of an apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, has been found, a city official confirmed Sunday. Branden Colvin Sr.’s body was recovered Saturday, city spokeswoman Sarah Ott said. Two other men — 51-year-old Ryan Hitchcock and 60-year-old […]

10 hours ago

A hiker sits on a ledge above Pueblo Bonito, the largest archeological site at the Chaco Culture Na...

Associated Press

Biden bans on oil and gas production on sacred site in New Mexico

Chaco Culture National Historical Park has been withdrawn from consideration for further oil and gas production for the next 20 years.

10 hours ago

Associated Press

Transgender adults in Florida `blindsided’ that new law also limits their access to health care

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Debate surrounding Florida’s new restrictions on gender-affirming care focused largely on transgender children. But a new law that Republican presidential candidate and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last month also made it difficult – even impossible – for many transgender adults to get treatment. Eli and Lucas, trans men who are a […]

10 hours ago

Associated Press

Four dead in Missouri after car crosses center line, strikes motorcyclists

AURORA, Mo. (AP) — Four people died and seven others were seriously injured when a car crossed the center line of a Missouri highway and struck five motorcycles. The accident happened Saturday afternoon on Missouri Route 39 near the southwestern Missouri town of Aurora. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said a Toyota Corolla crossed the […]

10 hours ago

Associated Press

7 shot, 1 fatally, in Chicago when gunfire erupts amid remembrance for man killed in car crash

CHICAGO (AP) — A 25-year-old woman was fatally shot and six other people were wounded early Sunday when gunfire erupted in Chicago during a remembrance for a man who died in a car crash, police said. A large group of people had gathered about 1 a.m. to mark four years since a man’s fatal crash […]

10 hours ago

President Joe Biden addresses the nation on the budget deal that lifts the federal debt limit and a...

Associated Press

Biden’s theory of the case for 2024 is governing and competence over Trump-era combat and chaos

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden promised voters in 2020 that he knew how to get things done in Washington and could bring stability to the capital. It seemed like a message out of step with the more combative era brought on by Donald Trump. But the bipartisan debt limit and budget legislation he signed […]

10 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

How to identify the symptoms of 3 common anxiety disorders

Living with an anxiety disorder can be debilitating and cause significant stress for those who suffer from the condition.

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...

Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.

Review: Judy Blume goes Hollywood in ‘Are You There God?…’