Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. (PG-13)
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Caution: spoilers.

This 2023 film is an adaptation of the 1970 middle-grade novel of the same name, by Judy Blume. (I've never read it, but I think I've always been vaguely aware of its existence.) I'm sure generations of kids, particularly girls, have loved the book, and if it's anything like the movie, I can see why. Being a guy, I can't perfectly relate to the story, but you don't have to relate to every aspect of a story to empathize with the characters, and you can still appreciate the parts you don't relate to. On the whole, I thought this was a very good movie with some very good characters, particularly the protagonist, 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson, who I had seen before in the TV series The Whispers and a couple of Ant-Man movies).

The movie is set in 1970-71 (about five years before I was born). It begins with a montage of kids, including Margaret, having fun at summer camp. Then Margaret returns home to her parents, Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb, and her paternal grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates). She learns that she and her parents will be moving from New York to New Jersey, because Herb got a promotion at work. Soon after arriving at their new home, Margaret meets a girl named Nancy Wheeler (Elle Graham, who I knew from the TV series Secrets of Sulphur Springs). She also meets Nancy's annoying brother and his best friend Moose, the latter of whom Margaret develops a crush on. (But the two boys are not of too much importance to the story.) Nancy invites Margaret to join a secret club with her two other friends, Gretchen and Janie. (I feel like we didn't get to know either of those girls super well, but I did get the impression that Margaret eventually got a bit closer to Janie.)

When Margaret and her new friends start sixth grade, their new teacher, Mr. Benedict (Echo Kellum, who I'd previously seen in at least a couple of shows, but didn't remember), assigns the class a year-long research assignment. Later, talking to Margaret alone, he learns that her father is Jewish and her mother was raised Christian, and they had decided not to raise Margaret with any religion, preferring to let her choose for herself when she grows up. Mr. Benedict suggests she do her research project on religion. Throughout the movie, Margaret often prays to God, asking Him to help her in various ways. The first time was before they moved to New Jersey; she asked Him to prevent the move from happening. Some of her other prayers relate to puberty, such as asking God to let her start growing breasts, and to get her first period. These topics also come up with her new friends. Margaret also asks her mother why she's never met her mother's parents, and learns that Barbara's parents had disowned her when she married a Jewish man. Once, while visiting Sylvia in the city, she goes to temple with her grandmother, but it doesn't make her feel a connection to God. Later, she goes to various church services with her friends, and still doesn't feel that spark.

Meanwhile, Barbara, who had quit her job as an art teacher when they moved, now has much more free time on her hands, and spends a lot of it volunteering for various committees at Margaret's school, which turns out to be somewhat overwhelming. She also sends a card to her parents around Christmastime, apparently on a whim. They write back, asking if they can come visit her and get to know their granddaughter. Unfortunately, this visit happens during Margaret's spring break, when she was supposed to visit Sylvia, who had moved to Florida. So she's upset about missing out on that trip. But then Sylvia shows up at their home in New Jersey, along with a man she'd met in Florida. Barbara's parents encourage Margaret to become a Christian, while Sylvia insists that she's Jewish. Barbara and Herb get upset with all of their parents, and Margaret declares that she doesn't even believe in God.

Well, plenty of other stuff happens throughout the movie. Like, there's a girl in Margaret's class named Laura, who is taller than the other kids and had developed breasts a couple of years ago. Nancy and the other girls are jealous of her, and spread rumors about her. At one point, Margaret is assigned a group project that includes Laura, and... things don't go well between them. But Margaret soon regrets that, and befriends Laura by the end of the movie. Margaret also gets upset at Nancy for having lied about something, which I didn't think was entirely fair, especially since Margaret hadn't always been entirely honest with her friends. By the end of the movie, it was unclear to me whether or not Margaret would remain friends with Nancy, and I kind of hoped for one more scene between them, which unfortunately never happened. I guess there were other reasons not to like Nancy, particularly how she talked about Laura, but I didn't think she was generally a bad person, and I felt like there must be some hope for her to grow as a person. Anyway, in the end, Margaret finally gets her period, and thanks God.

I should say I liked the relationships between Barbara and Herb, and between Barbara and Margaret, and between Sylvia and Margaret. And throughout the movie, I empathized a lot with Margaret. I do think that her concept of what prayer should be was wrong. I'm not particularly religious, myself, but at least I know it's not just about asking God to grant wishes. So I thought it was unfair of Margaret to blame Him for not answering her prayers, and in the end it was wrong to be grateful to Him that one of her prayers was finally answered. I don't believe God was responsible for any of those things. But at least I appreciate that by the end, Margaret still apparently hadn't chosen a religion to follow. Her concept of God is pretty non-denominational, which I like. Oh, and Barbara goes back to teaching art, which was also nice. (I feel like we got to know her a lot more than we did Herb in this movie, which is kind of a shame. It's also a shame we didn't get to know Gretchen and Janie better than we did.) But all in all, I just thought it was a really great movie about growing up, and friendships, and familial relationships, and everything. There was plenty of humor, plenty of drama, and plenty of warmth. I think the movie was nearly perfect at doing what it was trying to do. I just can't really think of enough good things to say about it, and it deserves a better review than I've given it. (It received positive reviews from critics, but didn't make back its budget at the box office, which I think is a terrible shame.) I guess I don't know what else to tell you. I hope I'm not forgetting anything I wanted to say. But it really was fun, heartwarming, and rather poignant in some parts. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.