Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023) Lionsgate/Comedy-Drama RT: 106 minutes Rated PG-13 (thematic material involving sexual education, some suggestive material) Director: Kelly Fremon Craig Screenplay: Kelly Fremon Craig Music: Hans Zimmer Cinematography: Tim Ives Release date: April 28, 2023 (US) Cast: Rachel McAdams, Abby Ryder Fortson, Elle Graham, Benny Safdie, Kathy Bates, Echo Kellum, Amari Price, Katherine Kupferer, Kate MacCluggage, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Landon Baxter, Isol Young, Simms May, Zackary Brooks, JeCobi Swain, Wilbur Fitzgerald, Mia Dillon, Gary Houston.
Rating: ****
My greatest concern upon hearing the news that Judy Blume’s popular coming-of-age YA novel Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. was being adapted for the big screen was how faithful the makers would be to the source. Specifically, I was worried they’d try to update it in order to appeal to modern audiences. I can’t even begin to conceive of a version of this story that didn’t take place in the pre-Internet world of 1970. Life was different back then, especially where growing up was concerned. Certain subjects were a mystery to preteens. They didn’t have a whole lot of access to information about sex and their changing bodies other than anatomy textbooks and purloined copies of Playboy. Girls on the precipice of puberty would sit around and theorize about rites of passage like periods and breast development. They’d brag to their friends about milestones achieved and giggle about kissing boys. That innocence went away with the rise of technology. Now when kids have questions, they just hit up Google. I’m so glad this isn’t the case with Margaret Simon and her friends.
Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen) pulls off an amazing feat with her excellent adaptation of God /Margaret. Fans will not only appreciate how closely she follows the book, they’ll be pleased with the changes she makes. The basic year-in-the-life premise remains the same. It’s still about Margaret (Fortson, Ant-Man), a young girl learning about life and its many complications in her final year of elementary school. However, Craig expands on the original material and gives Margaret’s mother (McAdams, Mean Girls) a more substantial role. We’re told more about her background, a creative choice that adds heft to Margaret’s search for her religious identity. I’ll circle back to this in a moment.
It’s a year of big changes for Margaret starting with her family’s sudden move from hustling, bustling New York City to the quiet New Jersey suburbs. This means going to a new school and making new friends, the first of which is her neighbor and future classmate Nancy (Graham, Secrets of Sulphur Springs), a bossy type who invites her to join her “secret club” with two other members, Gretchen (Kupferer) and Janie (Price). In their first meeting (over Oreos and diet soda), they establish rules that include wearing a bra and immediately informing the others when they get their first period. The latter is a constant source of worry to Margaret. She doesn’t want to be the last of friends to have it. It’s one of the things she talks to God about.
Margaret isn’t the only one struggling to adjust. Her mom Barbara is in a dilemma of her own. Having left her job as an art teacher to become a suburban housewife, she finds herself without purpose in life. She tries to fill the void by joining the PTA and volunteering for almost every committee. It goes pretty much how you’d expect. It’s not helpful that the head of the PTA, Nancy’s mother (MacCluggage), takes advantage of her naïve generosity.
Now here’s where the film really departs from the source material. Craig adds a scene that fleshes out Barbara’s character in a most brilliant way. As those who’ve read Blume’s book know, religion is an uncomfortable subject in the Simon household. Margaret, the child of a Jewish father (Uncut Gems co-director Safdie) and a gentile mother, wasn’t raised one way or the other. She wants to know why. In a perfectly calibrated scene, Barbara explains that her devout Christian parents disowned her for marrying a Jew. This is why they never made her go to church. They figured she can decide for herself what she wants to be (if she wants to be anything) when she grows up. This, of course, does not set well with Margaret’s very Jewish grandmother Sylvia (Bates, Misery).
I read and reread several Judy Blume books in my youth, God /Margaret included. I know it’s for girls, but I liked how frankly and openly the author discussed taboo subjects. Craig follows Blume’s lead by dealing with the sensitive material the same way. She sees both the seriousness and the humor in situations like nervously buying sanitary napkins (male cashier, check!) and watching a graphic educational film about menstruation at school. She perfectly captures the inner life of preteen girls as Margaret experiences all the usual things- e.g. peer pressure, that first crush and finding out how complicated and messy family can be. She learns valuable lessons about friendship, being true to herself and the insidious nature of gossip, especially when it turns out not to be true which it usually does.
In the title role, Fortson absolutely crushes it. She’s terrific as Margaret, hitting all the right emotional beats at all times, delivering a performance of uncommon openness. Whether she’s trying to be inconspicuous about looking at a boy she likes or losing it during a family squabble over religion, none of it ever comes across as false or forced. McAdams is equally great as the mom. Has it really been almost 20 years since she played a high schooler in Mean Girls? She’s the bohemian-type parent who makes a sincere effort to understand her daughter and let her find her own way in life with just a bit of guidance here and there. Bates is positively delightful as Sylvia, really the comic center of God /Margaret. She’s the consummate Jewish grandmother/mother-in-law with lines designed to generate maximum guilt like “I read that when you don’t have any loved ones around, your life expectancy drops drastically.”
I’d also like to call attention to a young actress named Isol Young who plays classmate Laura Danker. She’s the most developed girl in the sixth grade. As such, she’s subject to rumors about her letting boys feel her up behind the A&P. In one of the film’s most emotionally effective scenes, she runs off in tears after Margaret calls her out for her alleged promiscuity. The hurt she feels is palpable. Young may not be the star of the show, but she makes an impact nonetheless.
I love how period authentic God /Margaret is with the vintage clothes, cars and interior décor. The soundtrack is spot-on as well with Craig’s use of hit songs of the time. That’s actually the perfect analogy for God /Margaret as a whole. It hits all the right notes all the time. In just her second film, Craig shows she’s a force to be reckoned with. She does incredible work here. Her adaptation is filled with warmth and humor. It assures her target audience what they’re going through (or about to go through) is perfectly normal. How can anybody fault a movie for that? I’m glad to see one of Blume’s novels get the treatment it deserves.
