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View ProfilesPublished May 3, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.
The books of Judy Blume are radical. Countless kids learned about menstruation and bra fittings from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret., her 1970 novel about a sixth grader sitting uneasily on the cusp of puberty. (For boys, Blume covered the equivalent taboo topics in Then Again, Maybe I Won't.)
It's tempting to put that radicalism in the past and say Blume's groundbreaking middle-grade novels now seem tame. But take a look at the news: In March, Republicans in Florida's legislature advanced a bill that would prohibit discussion of menstruation in schools before the sixth grade. Margaret and her friends would only just make the cut.
Book banners are busy again across the nation, claiming to protect children's "innocence." In this environment, Blume's matter-of-fact approach to touchy subjects does, indeed, seem radical. Director Kelly Fremon Craig's new adaptation of Margaret, the first one Blume ever green-lighted, is clearly more than a nostalgia piece. But how faithful is the much-heralded movie to the book's legacy?
In 1970, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is dismayed when her parents decide to move from the city to the burbs of New Jersey. She's also increasingly troubled by something that sets her apart from other kids: Her Jewish dad (Benny Safdie) and Christian mom (Rachel McAdams) have raised her without a religious identity.
In her new home, Margaret makes friends with her imperious neighbor Nancy (Elle Graham), who initiates her into a circle where bras, "bust-increasing" exercises and a general preoccupation with puberty are de rigueur. She embarks on a school project to explore various religions, along with a private spiritual practice — highly informal conversations with God in which she asks the Almighty to grant her an ample chest.
Meanwhile, Margaret's mom, Barbara, has quit her job and is doing her best to live the American dream as a housewife. But pot roasts and PTA craft projects aren't really her speed. Each in her own way, mother and daughter are weathering a generational sea change in definitions of femininity.
I stay as far as I can from Disneyfied film versions of the classics of my childhood. (A movie in which that little terror Ramona Quimby is cute? C'mon, now.) Blume's books particularly resist prettying up because they're so down-to-earth: first-person narratives that one can almost imagine finding in a child's diary, though clearly guided by an adult intelligence. Flowery language and moral messaging are off the table. These books speak directly to kids, like an embarrassingly confessional friend.
Craig's adaptation, by contrast, is clearly designed to speak not just to kids but also to their moms and even grandmothers who grew up on Margaret. The subplot about Barbara feels like an attempt to shoehorn an adult perspective (and star) into a story that was limited to Margaret's point of view on the page.
While McAdams is likable in the role, and it's nice to see a mom given her due, the jokes about Barbara's bad cooking and her interactions with her prissy, coiffed peers don't bring much that's new or fresh to the film. In fact, they feel like throwbacks to '80s movies, especially when accompanied by the generic whimsy of Hans Zimmer's score. (Interestingly, Blume also got less naturalistic when she wrote about adults: Her 1978 sex farce, Wifey, is rich in the sort of broad, sitcom clichés that she eschewed in her books for children.) As Margaret's possessive grandma, Kathy Bates rubs up against caricature, too, though sheer force of personality makes her fun to watch.
Margaret feels way less Hollywood and more real when it focuses on its tween characters. Fortson is such a perfect choice for Margaret that she could probably carry the movie all by herself. With tense, bushy brows and eyes that are quick to show joy or pain, she doesn't play to the camera. Yet she makes all of Margaret's volatile feelings beautifully legible to the viewer.
The movie takes the complex internal politics of kids seriously. We understand why Margaret is drawn to the preening Nancy, for whom femininity is a never-ending competition. (Who will "develop" first? Who will get the attention of the designated Hottest Boy?) And we respect Margaret for those quiet conversations with God, in which she fumbles her way toward a value system that isn't dictated by the many Nancys of the world.
To her credit, Craig doesn't impose any tidy conclusions on Margaret's spiritual journey. The choice of religion (or none) remains hers, as her parents intended. While Margaret skirts hokeyness occasionally, especially in its treatment of the adult characters, it comes close enough to the novel's authenticity to be a bit radical in its own right.
Judy Blume Forever (2023; Prime Video): This new documentary from Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok explores the author's legacy through interviews with her and her fans, some of whom are now authors themselves.
The Edge of Seventeen (2016; Sling TV, rentable): Blume resisted selling the film rights to Margaret for many years. She has said this acclaimed coming-of-age debut feature from director Craig, starring Hailee Steinfeld, convinced her to change her mind.
"Freaks and Geeks" (one season, 1999; Hulu, Pluto TV, rentable): Films and TV about tweens have rarely been as honest and naturalistic as Blume's books are, but this cult series comes close with its depiction of middle schoolers in the early 1980s.
Tags: Movie+TV Reviews, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret., Judy Blume, Abby Ryder Fortson, Benny Safdie, Rachel McAdams, Elle Graham, Staff Picks, Video
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