Review: A true coming-of-age film: ‘It’s Me, Margaret’

Though it begins on a warm New Jersey summer day in 1970, Kelly Fremon Craig’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” could very well take place today. Especially for how deftly it handles a rare onscreen moment that’s been happening for eons in real life: The mind-numbing awkwardness of being an 11-year-old girl going bra shopping with your mother for the very first time. 

The revamp of a classic untouchable is getting tired, so people were rightly nervous when it was announced that Lionsgate had won the rights to the Judy Blume novel that had been loved for nearly half a century. Even those who hadn’t read the book knew of the impact the novel had on generations of women, showing all the grisly bits of young girlhood without judgment and with the empathy and depth it deserved.

But don’t fear, “It’s Me, Margaret” is absolutely spectacular. It’s a film about teens and actually for teens but made to be enjoyed immensely by all ages. Kelly Fremon Craig showed her directing chops with her debut, “The Edge of Seventeen” (2016) starring Hailee Steinfeld, but “It’s Me, Margaret” is funnier, sweeter and kinder to all characters in the film, even the mean kids in middle school you couldn’t wait to get away from. 

Abby Ryder Fortson plays Margaret Simon, a sixth-grader who has just been delivered with the worst news a New York City-raised child could get. Her family is moving to New Jersey. 

Fortson is exceptionally charming, playing Margaret with a cringing gawkiness of puberty that can be hard to accurately portray. 

Margaret quickly befriends some of the girls in the neighborhood, a clique built more upon close proximity, gossip-mongering and a fear of being stuck on the outside if not on the inside, as millions of friendships between young girls have been over time. One of these girls, ringleader Nancy (Elle Graham), is mean in a way that’s hard to recognize as long as Margaret is laughing with her and is quick to point out everything that Margaret should be insecure about.

During all of this, Margaret learns her identity in the world through her relationship with religion, something she has never really come into contact with as her Catholic mother, played by the always effervescent Rachel McAdams at the top of her game, and Jewish father (Benny Safdie) decided to raise Margaret void of a religion. 

In a world where so much is tied to religion, especially big holidays in the suburbs, Margaret finds it important to explore her religious individuality, attending Rosh Hashanah services with her grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates) as well as a baptism with her friend Janie (Amari Alexis Price). Both scenes are touching tributes to the spirituality of religion but both leave Margaret unable to feel “God” or the person she is speaking to in her head throughout the movie, in an attempt to untangle the jumble of emotions her year brings.

McAdams’ portrayal of Barbara Simon is a lovely parallel coming of age storyline as she learns to deal with the restlessness of the suburbs. In an attempt to fill up time she spent teaching art lessons in the city, she becomes an active member of the PTA but finds herself unfulfilled by the idleness of it. 

While she isn’t at all the film’s focus, it’s triumphant to see her go back to teaching art towards the end and is a reminder that nobody is ever quite finished with their metaphorical growing pains. McAdams is a tried and true performer bringing great humanity to her character which has been described by Marya Gates as “luminous.”

While the writing gives Safdie and Bates relatively less to do, this often serves the movie better as the focus is on Margaret and her evolution. Middle school is a lot and while she begins as someone who is just looking to survive it, she ends the school year choosing to be a little bit kinder than she needs to be. The film is clever and funny, with the script doing a lot of the work, but the comedic timing of the actors plays a great supporting role to it.

The book, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” was banned in the United States in the ‘70s for its frank portrayal of pre-teenagehood, with all its girl-talk of boys, the fear and anticipation of periods and the constant worry of the timeline of puberty working too slow or too fast. But to see such a marvelous adaptation that doesn’t shy away from those topics is worth celebrating in theaters, even for those who haven’t read the original.