"I think it's finally time for me to decide what to be, God. You wouldn't mind, would you? I'll tell you all about it. And I promise I won't make any decisions without you first."
— Margaret Simon
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. is a 2023 coming-of-age dramedy film adapted from the young adult novel of the same name with Kelly Fremon Craig (who had previously directed another coming-of-age dramedy, The Edge of Seventeen) at the helm.
Set in 1970, the film follows eleven-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson), the thus-far secular child of a loving interfaith marriage between the Christian Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and the Jewish Herb (Benny Safdie). Margaret's life is turned upside down when the family moves from New York City to suburban New Jersey, separating Margaret from her beloved paternal grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates). As the family adjusts to their new life and Margaret enters puberty, she begins to think about her relationship with religion.
The film was released in April 2023 in the United States.
Tropes:
- '60s Hair: Compared to Barbara's free flowing feathered hair, Nancy's mother Jan Wheeler has a late 1960s bouffant, showing their contrasts in personalities.
- '70s Hair:
- Barbara has long, loose hair with feathery sides.
- Mr. Benedict, being Black, has a full Afro.
- Janie (as a black girl) has natural hair that she only straightens once, having it pressed for Norman's party.
- A-Cup Angst:
- Margaret is frustrated over the fact that she hasn't started developing breasts yet and is jealous of buxom Laura Danker about being more developed.
- When the four girls sneak a copy of Playboy to look at, Gretchen calls Miss June's breasts "globes" and laments that hers are just "little wizard hats."
- Adaptation Distillation: Several plot events of the book are removed from the movie to streamline events.
- Nancy and the rest of Margaret's friends have no part in Margaret's exploration of faith other than to invite her to church with them; there's no mention of her needing to pick one to join either the YMCA or Jewish Community Center, or that everyone attends one or the other.
- There's no Thanksgiving dance (though the children are shown practicing dancing in their classroom), Christmas concert, or ceremony for Mr. Benedict at the end of the year.
- During Norman's party, the children are less rowdy (Nancy's dress doesn't get damaged) and while Philip briefly spits mustard on the ceiling, Norman's mother does not interrupt the party to fuss at them for ill behavior and leaves at the start not to return. Furthermore, Two Minutes In Heaven is slimmed down so that the children pair up once, rather than go back-and-forth; Philip, for example, only goes in the bathroom with Margaret, not Laura Danker (who herself only goes with Freddy, not him and Freddy).
- Many of the classroom scenes are cut out, including the many times the class causes trouble for Mr. Benedict.
- The movie has the menstruation video be more matter of fact, and there's no follow up with a brand promotion.
- Sylvia only comes to visit the house once, coming up from Florida when Margaret can't come to her. This is combined with the visit from Barbara's parents, leading to a confrontation between them both over what they belief Margaret's faith is in front of her (and both upsetting her and Barbara).
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the book, Laura Danker is described as blonde. In the movie, she's played by Isol Young, who has dark hair that was not dyed.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- Margaret's mother Barbara. In the film she's the Deuteragonist, with her own story occurring simultaneously alongside Margaret's. She decided to stop teaching painting so she could be a stay-at-home mom and spend more time with her daughter, and finds herself participating in the local PTA. Her plotline deals with the troubles she has trying to adapt as a stay at home mother, and her trying to do right by Margaret while also struggling with her own emotional wounds from her parents and Margaret starting to pull away into her own life.
- A shorter one, but when Janie—being Black—invites Margaret to church, the service is a longer scene and more active with a gospel choir and the preacher singing along. Margaret is still unsure about her faith but enjoys the music.
- Adaptational Diversity: The originally all-white Farbrook is adapted to now include various people of color in the neighborhood and classroom, including Janie and the teacher, Mr. Benedict.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Margaret and her parents are nicer in the film than in the book. Barbara is closer to Margaret and helps her navigate through various issues; after Margaret is upset after a bad day at school, Barbara asks her to sit on the couch and they briefly mention their sour feelings. Herb is less hostile to his wife about her having contacted her parents and more upset about how they treated her than how they treat him; he ultimately says she should let them visit, clearly hoping that she's right and they'll be kinder to them all, and when his mother and her parents argue and she becomes upset, he comforts her. Margaret, most importantly, has a Heel Realization after Laura Danker calls her out for how she's joined in on the gossip and becomes willing to make friends with Laura rather than nothing happening after Laura tells her off—and Janie is willing to join her in befriending Laura.
- Philip Leroy, while still something of a jerk, is slightly less so. Notably, during Norman's party when they play 2 Minutes in Heaven he goes into the bathroom with Margaret (he doesn't go with Laura Danker at all) and only gives her two kisses politely—one on the cheek, and one on the lips. He still does the "pinch to grow an inch" joke on her birthday that upsets her, and spits mustard on the ceiling during the party, but he's not as overly nasty as before.
- Freddy is no longer a prominent Class Clown (in part because there's less of the students harassing Mr. Benedict) and more of a minor character.
- Mary and Paul Hutchins, Barbara's parents, are more sympathetic and less fundamentalist, appearing to honestly be trying to reconnect with Barbara and know Margaret. While still clearly Christian—including looking visibly unsure during Sylvia cheering "l'chaim" at dinner and arguing with Sylvia over what Margaret's faith has to be afterwards—they seem to be be regretful about their actions after Margaret storms off and Barbara cries, and even say they'll call to talk to Barbara before leaving in the cab, implying they want to try and reconcile with her in some way and remain in her life.
- Adaptational Sympathy: Margaret's mom Barbara is made more sympathetic in the movie, in part by giving her her own plotline outside of Maragaret's perception consisting of both angst about her parents and the frustration of being a housewife when she finds it boring.
- Adapted Out:
- Barbara's brother in California is not mentioned by her parents at all.
- Gretchen's father is only briefly mentioned as a doctor when she takes the anatomy book for them to look at; Herb does not go to the hospital after cutting his hand on the mower, so Dr. Potter's not seen at all and Margaret only learns about Gretchen on the first day of school.
- All for Nothing: Barbara signs on with the PTA and at the direction of Mrs. Wheeler cuts out thousands of fabric stars over several months to redecorate the school gym by having the ceiling painted black and the stars glued to the ceiling, to recreate the night sky. Barbara even takes on another volunteer's allotment when asked. However, putting the cloth stars on the ceiling are determined to be a fire hazard and the project is scrapped.
- And Starring: To be specific, "And Introducing". Abby Ryder Fortson gets this credit because it's her first starring role, though she'd been in several other films (most notably, she played Cassie Lang in the first two Ant-Man movies before being replaced by Emma Fuhrmann in Avengers: Endgame).
- Bathroom Stall of Angst:
- Nancy ends up crying in the bathroom stall when she gets her first period for real.
- Margaret runs away from class and cries in the girls' bathroom after only turning in a single sheet of paper for her year-long project.
- Blatant Lies:
- When Barbara tells Margaret about being disowned by her parents for marrying a Jewish man (which has Margaret indignant and horrified) she says that it happened a long time ago so she's fine. But she's crying as she explains, and the talk makes her later reach out to her parents.
- Margaret lies that her top boy is Philip Leroy instead of Moose Freed. She also lies that she kissed Philip repeatedly during Two Minutes when it was only twice, but it was in part to make Nancy jealous.
- Book Ends: The movie starts and ends with summer camp—at the start Margaret is coming back from it, and at the end is heading off to camp again.
- Boring Religious Service: ZigZagged. Margaret finds two of the services she attends—temple with her grandmother Sylvia and Christmas Eve services with Nancy—very boring, but finds the gospel choir performance at Janie's black church interesting and says she likes the music.
- Brand X: In the drugstore, among some real brands of the era, are the period products Private Lady and Teenage Softies. Janie and Margaret buy Teenage Softies.
- Calling the Old Man Out: When Sylvia and Barbara's parents start arguing with each other over whether Margaret is Jewish or Christian, Margaret loses her temper at both of them and says she's neither—then says she doesn't even believe in God before storming to her room.
- Creator Cameo: The author, Judy Blume, is seen walking a small dog through the neighborhood during the Establishing Shot of Farbrook.
- Cover-up Purchase: Embarrassed about buying menstrual pads for the first time—especially with a teenage boy clerk at the checkout— Margaret and Janie quickly buy a pack of TicTacs along with them to curb attention away from the pads. In the book Margaret is not as embarrassed, in part because she's had a recent Crisis of Faith and is feeling defiant against God, but still purchases a comb so they're not just getting pads.
- Crisis of Faith: Margaret has one after the fight between her grandparents over whether she's Christian or Jewish. She ends up turning in a single sheet of paper for her year-long project, saying that what she's learned about religion is that all it does is make people fight and argue—and before Mr. Benedict can talk to her about it, she runs off to cry in the girls' bathroom.
- Demoted to Extra: Freddy Barnett, who was one of the leaders of the many classroom troubles against new teacher Mr. Benedict, is demoted to a minor character who doesn't have much to do but is present in many class scenes—and ends up going in the bathroom during Two Minutes in Heaven with Laura Danker (Philip doesn't at all), being very embarrassed along with her.
- Deuteragonist: The film puts Margaret's mother Barbara in this role. With Herb making more money and Margaret nearing twelve, she leaves her job teaching painting to be a stay-at-home mom. She struggles to adjust to homemaking—finding herself bored—and the difficulties of being in the PTA, especially as someone who's just too nice to say no when extra tasks are heaped on her and having almost no time for her art. She's also clearly still hurting from being disowned by her parents, so she reaches out to them and pins her hopes on them having changed. At the end of the film, Barbara has resumed teaching painting classes and when the head of the PTA, Mrs. Wheeler, tries to corner her to help with the PTA again in middle school, she says no and says it's because she doesn't want to.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Minor, but Gretchen wears glasses in the movie where she never does in the book.
- Fake Boobs: Margaret stuffs her new bra briefly with socks, and mocks Laura Danker before she dances around her room until startled by her father injuring himself. A deleted scene also shows her stuffing her bra with cotton balls before Norman's party.
- First Period Panic: Avoided. After Gretchen has her first period (the first of the girls to get it), she tells her friends what it was like and doesn't have a lot to say in specifics (which frustrates Nancy, who wanted more details); she didn't panic and simply let her mom know. Nancy says she got hers shortly thereafter while in DC and didn't panic at all. Then the trope is Zigzagged when Nancy gets her first period for real and ends up panicking and crying in a restaurant bathroom.
- Good Parents: In this version, Barbara is a really good mom to Margaret. She's supportive without being smothering — such as when she warns Margaret that wearing shoes without socks will give her blisters, but doesn't insist on them and leaves her to learn this on her own — and worries about not having spent enough time with her (which is why she stopped working to be a stay a home mom). She does make mistakes, but in the film the situation with her parents has her come across much better, and she checks in on Margaret after a bad day at school in a very compassionate way.
- Green-Eyed Monster:
- Margaret is continuously jealous of various factors involved with puberty, mostly with Laura Denker having large breasts and not getting her period before her friends.
- Nancy gets shades of it after Margaret goes into the bathroom with Philip Leroy—especially after Margaret brags and says they kissed five times or more when she goes to church with her.
- Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Or at least, a bully. Margaret's first friend in New Jersey, Nancy Wheeler, immediately tells her awful things about their classmate Laura Danker (who is going through precocious puberty), including claiming she goes behind the A&P and lets boys feel her up. Margaret believes what she's told and treats Laura like an anathema throughout, until Laura calls her out about it to her face. Margaret later shows remorse for believing this and makes a kind gesture to Laura before the end of the school year.
- Race Lift:
- Janie, who is white in the books, is cast in the movie as black Amari Alexis Price.note This also leads to some Adaptational Diversity in the story as, when she takes Margaret to church with her, it's a black church with a gospel choir performance seen. She also has her hair pressed with a hot comb by her mother before Norman's party to look nice. The behind the scenes also explains that her room has Jet magazine clippings to decorate it.
- The new male teacher, Mr. Benedict, is played by black Echo Kellum.
- Freddy Barnett is played by black Jecobi Swain.
- Running Gag: The movie frequently points out the lack of furnishings in the Simons' living room. It's only mentioned twice in the book, once by Margaret explaining her mother hasn't decided and during the visit from Barbara's parents where the living room is still bare. In the movie, Barbara has gotten good furniture before her parents visit.
- Seasonal Baggage: The seasons are shown passing through methods such as Moose doing maintenance in the Simon's front lawn and images of trees losing leaves, being bare, or budding them. In the classroom, motifs for the year are present in the background such as construction paper leaves for fall.
