Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret
U/A: Coming of age
Dir: Kelly Fremon Craig
Cast: Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Benny Safdie, Elle Graham, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Amari Price, Landon S. Baxter, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Isol Young
Rating: 3/5

Kelly Fremon Craig’s fairly faithful adaptation of Judy Blume’s landmark young adult novel “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” about 11-year-old Margaret reluctantly having to navigate new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence, is a succinct elaboration of the coming-of-age story. It’s been more than 50 years since the book was first published, and in those early days, the book even faced a ban. In the current scenario where every form of education on the body and self is available via the internet, this film adaptation by writer and director Kelly Fremon Craig might seem a bit tame, sanitised, and bloodless. Thankfully, the script is both witty and frank in its appraisal of an 11-year-old girl’s candid experiences and confessions.

Margaret’s (Abby Ryder Fortson) reluctance to move to New Jersey with her parents is because she does not want to feel like a fish out of water. All her friends, her grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates), and the familiars are in New York, and she is unwilling to venture out of that secure zone. That’s when you see her communicating with God. “Please don’t let New Jersey be too horrible,” Margaret whispers to God as her family packs up for their new abode. Given that her parents, Jewish father Herb (Benny Safdie), and Christian mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams), have wiped out religion from their lives, it’s a wonder that she believes in God, though.