How does that feel? I cannot wait to take it off!

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2023

#8 :  Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Deep breaths, everyone — this one blindsides you. Whatever your knowledge, or memory, of Judy Blume’s (and excuse us but it is practically the law that we have to use the next word) seminal 1970 novel about a 12-year-old American girl’s coming of age, this is an absolute heart-smashing gem from writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig. Are You There God? brings you in to Margaret’s (Abby Ryder Fortson, a future superstar) little world – where cup-sizes and impending menstruation mean everything – from the start, charming and enchanting you, making you feel like you’re one of the family until, at the end, when it’s time to let go, you can’t bear to leave. And know this: if you feel this isn’t the subject matter for you, that you’re not the demographic, you do yourself a disservice — this is a wonderful, fully-realised, perfectly executed piece of work that gets you right in the guts. A beauty.

Hey, guess what Empire - I "feel this isn’t the subject matter for you, that you’re not the demographic". Let's find out if I'm doing myself a disservice...

Oh yes, I very much was. If, like I was, you're only vaguely aware of the premise of the novel, it is very much about Margaret growing up but it also deals with family and religion a lot more than I was expecting. And that's all you need to know really! 

Critical to the success of the film is the actress playing Margaret and Abby Ryder Fortson is absolutely fantastic here - she's a great combination of innocence, hope and excitement, conveying that sense of being desperate to grow up more quickly whilst having no real clue what that involves. She carries the film so beautifully - I totally agree with Empire that she's a future superstar. 

Rachel McAdams is also great as Barbara, Margaret's mum - in lots of ways we find her in similar situations to Margaret trying to cope with uncertain situations whilst also having to be brave and strong for her daughter. And, completing the generational sweep, Kathy Bates is also great as Sylvia, Margaret's grandma who struggles to cope with the loss of her family all the way out to New Jersey. Yup, this is most definitely not a film that fails the Bechdel test!

For a film which has quite a broad canvas, it's not exactly drowning in other major characters - Elle Graham, Amari Alexis Price and Katherine Kupferer are all (mostly) charming as Margaret's friends, but they're very much supporting roles. In the only even-close-to-major male role, Benny Safdie is amusingly hopeless but also a touchingly supportive husband and father as Herb, Margaret's dad - somewhat surprisingly this is the third time we've seen him this year and fourth overall and all the roles have been VERY different.

The time period of the book is lovingly recreated in the film, with a load of lovely retro details, with some of them being large crowd scenes which must have taken quite some setting up and expense. The direction is unflashy but effective and the whole thing is beautifully written with there being some lovely little touches which take you right back to that age, even though there's obviously more of a feminine angle to this film than I ever experienced. 

The book is so well loved that I suspect there would have been rioting if they'd got it wrong and, whilst I've not read the book, the reviews I've seen suggests that they did a good job. My only regret about this film is how so much of the general vibe of the film is still relevant today, but the innocence of the kids would make many of today's children simply roll their eyes in disbelief - I hesitate to call the film a period piece, but it's very much of its time.

For anyone who has fond memories of reading the book when they were younger, I'd suggest this is an essential watch and for any men out there like me who have just totally avoided it, maybe give it a chance because it's just a lovely film with great female roles throughout and an absolutely knock-out central performance. If you want to watch it, it's available to stream on Amazon Prime and to rent everywhere else - a strong recommendation for me.

#9 - Charming and gorgeous, but not very funny
#7 - A load of fun