Movie Review # 598: Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023)

Well, everyone, welcome back to yet another session of movie reviewing! Today, we are going to be reviewing a film that is evidently based on a book series by book author Judie Blume. Not only that, but the first of this book series was apparently written over fifty years ago, in 1970. So now, over fifty years later, we have the first of this book series adapted into film, and set in 1970. Oh, and did I forget to mention that this film stars Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, and Abby Ryder Fortson, among some others? Well, with all that being said, let’s discuss the film, “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret”.

Plot: Set in 1970, a pre-teen named Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson), and her parents end up moving from New York City to a suburb in New Jersey. After settling in, making some new friends, and more, her 6th grade teacher assigns her, and the class a year-long research project. This prompts her to explore other religions by going to services like a Jewish one at her grandmother’s synagogue, going to a Nativity mass with a friend of hers, and more. As she does this project, will she realize why she believes in God, or will this affect her relationship with God, and draw her away from Him in the end?

Now, the question remains, did this film remain faithful to it’s source material, or the first part of it? Well, I have never personally read the source material. So, I can’t vouch for that yet. However, as far as a film goes without comparing it to the book, it’s still very good. First of all, you have to give this film credit for rating this film PG-13. I mean yeah, it can feel like more like kids/family film at times. However, because this film had talked about more mature topics like puberty, a female having her period, and things like that, it was probably for the best that this film was given the rating that it had in the end. Quite honestly, I was kind of surprised to find that the book ended up being controversial, due to it being a middle school novel that also talked about these rather heavy subjects. Anyway, the cast was phenomenal, from Abby Ryder Fortson as the main character, Margaret, to Rachael McAdams as her mother, Benny Safdie as her husband, Herb, Kathy Bates as Margaret’s grandmother, and more. Honestly, you can tell that each person had so much fun with their respective roles. The movie can help younger people, especially those in middle, high school, or even younger kids that see this film, really think about life in general, especially when it comes to learning how to handle social situations. It was also great to see a film that featured kids learning to fit in, and sometimes may even struggle with their faith in God from time to time. I mean to have God included in a mainstream media film, especially nowadays, that is great that we can still films like those even in theaters. Oh, and the movie does a fantastic job of demonstrating why religion doesn’t work. Yes, the Book Of James portrays religion in a positive light by saying that true good religion is helping orphans, and widows, and things like that. Anyway, the movie does deal with hard issues like forgiveness to those that hurt us, reconciliation, and quite a few other things as well. It’s also great to have a film in which each of the characters feels genuine, and real.

If there were any negatives about this film, it would be that, one, there were some scenes that felt a little corny, and stupid at times. Also, the ending may have ended a little too abruptly. Thankfully, with those being the only complaints, that doesn’t keep this film from being enjoyable overall.

And that concludes my review for Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. It is great to see a film that remains faithful to the book, and doesn’t add any unnecessary elements that might cause some people to not want to see it. Yes, there are some heavy subjects covered in this film, like the ones that I mentioned before. Still, because of the fact that God is talked about in this film, the characters being well developed, the storyline being mostly well done, and other things too, you will definitely not want to miss it. Trust me, after you see it, I can guarantee you’ll be glad that you did. So go see Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret., and see what you think!

Final Grade: A-