Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (PG)

Dir: Kelly Fremon Craig | USA | 2023 | 106 mins
Cast | Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Benny Safdie, Kathy Bates

Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Benny Safdie and Kathy Bates star in Kelly Fremon Craig’s (The Edge of Seventeen) new adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic young adult novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret – a candid, timeless coming-of-age story exploring teenage girlhood with insight, humour, and empathy.

Transplanted from New York into the New Jersey suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) navigates the tumultuous throes of puberty while making friends at her new school and evolving her ideas about religion amidst her parents’ interfaith marriage. She relies on her mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), who is also struggling to adjust to life outside the city, and her adoring grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates), who isn’t happy they moved away – and likes to remind them every chance she gets. An entertaining and wholehearted comedy in a nostalgic 1970s setting, Are You There God… brilliantly evokes the fear, humour, yearning and excitement of the transition to adulthood.

“A winner… Abby Ryder Fortson and Rachel McAdams are remarkable” The Guardian ★★★★★