{"id":39659,"date":"2023-05-01T18:15:30","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T22:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=39659"},"modified":"2023-05-01T18:15:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T22:15:30","slug":"are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/01\/are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you There, God? It\u2019s Me Margaret. (2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Judy Blume\u2019s \u201cAre You There God? It\u2019s Me Margaret\u201d is quite possibly one of the most iconic and influential young adult novels ever written. Even back in the early nineties, all the girls in my class read it. Director Kelly Fremon Craig pulls off a great feat, taking what\u2019s usually considered a novel for young girls and transforms it in to a narrative that any tween or pre-teen can relate to. Even with its setting in 1970, \u201cAre You There, God?\u201d is still such a down to Earth and richly developed story about growing up, choosing your path in life, and trying to understand the adults in your life.<\/p>\n

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Eleven-year-old Margaret Simon moves to a new town in New Jersey and starts to contemplate everything about life, friendship and adolescence. She relies on her mother, Barbara, who offers loving support, and her grandmother, Sylvia, who’s coming to terms with finding happiness in the next phase of her life. With her constant intimate pleas to \u201cGod,\u201d she struggles to confront the hardships of growing up.<\/p>\n

The latter theme about adults is especially crucial to the story of Margaret as she realizes that the people in her life are all wildly flawed, and perhaps even a little selfish. When Margaret is forced to move from New York to New Jersey, she\u2019s exposed to potential teen hood where she takes up with a group of friends obsessed with growing up. With puberty inevitable, the idea of adolescence becomes a daunting milestone for Margaret who isn\u2019t even sure where she wants to spend her summer vacation. Star Abby Ryder Fortson is fantastic as Margaret Simon, a young girl who is looking for a way to become her own person, while her family spends most of their time making the tougher decisions.<\/p>\n

Along the way as the narrative progresses, Margaret turns to the notion of God as a means of solace and begging for help. Ryder Fortson is complimented by the excellent supporting performances from the respective cast that includes Kathy Bates, and Benny Safdie as Margaret\u2019s mild mannered father Herb. The stand out though is Rachel McAddams, Margaret\u2019s mom Barbara who is, in many respects, an older version of Margaret. Not only is she also trying to find a place in her New Jersey home, but she also absorbs a lot of the pain that her family feels. McAddams is just stellar here. \u201cAre you There, God?\u201d isn\u2019t completely a movie about religion, but more about a girl seeking help from a source outside her family that isn\u2019t trying to alter her life.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Margaret chooses a path of faith or religion is left wholly ambiguous, but the idea of choosing a religion becomes a shocking hot button topic in a heated confrontation in the climax. The whole issue ends up being less about religion and more about loyalty, and she\u2019s wise enough to realize that in her new home and with her new friends. Nevertheless, \u201cAre You There, God?\u201d is highly recommended, and just an absorbing, funny, and heartfelt coming of age tale. I hope that Kelly Fremon Craig\u2019s treatment of Judy Blume\u2019s novel becomes a celebrated film classic, as it\u2019s one of the finest movies of the year, so far.<\/p>\n