Film Review: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Director: Kelly Fremon Craig
Starring: Kathy Bates, Rachel McAdams, Abby Ryder Forston
Running time: 106 minutes

Generations of girls have grown up with Judy Blume books so it’s surprising that we’ve had to wait so long for a film adaptation. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is one of Blume’s best known pre-teen novels and the film is set in the year it was published, 1970. This enables the adaptation to be as faithful as possible to the book, while indulging in the brown interiors and awkward fashions of the time.

For those of you who didn’t read and reread this as a pre-teen, the plot involves eleven-year-old Margaret (a lovely turn by Abby Ryder Fortson) whose family move from New York city to the New Jersey suburbs. This move forces her to adjust to a new school, new friends and a new home; on top of this she has to navigate her family relationships and a newfound interest in religion. Margaret has to work things out for herself and the audience shares in that growing process, accessing some of her inner thinking through her dialogue with God, who she talks to before bed. The book is fondly remembered for capturing the angst, confusion and growing pains in a way that really worked - Blume never shied away from big feelings but there is a gentle humour in there too and the film version captures that brilliantly.

While Margaret and her new friends are trying to be as cool and grown up as possible, memorably doing exercises to help their breasts grow and sneaking copies of anatomy textbooks and Playboy to see what bodies look like, the adults in the story are not acting in a particularly grown-up way. There is a little more backstory added to the film, especially around Margaret’s mother, sweetly downplayed by Rachel McAdams, who gets involved with the PTA committee and who has a distressing family history to try and deal with. Of course, it’s Kathy Bates, playing Margaret’s New York grandmother Sylvia, who steals all her scenes with glorious warmth and panache.

Any Blume fan will tell you that the reason her books are so loved is because she talked about what things felt like and how she understood them in a natural way. Teenage years are horrible, all those hormones, spots and change, along with the awkwardness causing you to feel like nothing will ever get better. The great thing about Blume’s books and about this adaptation is that the moments of real drama – things that were huge to you at the time – are treated as seriously as any literary or Hollywood blockbuster and the story is the better for it. It’s not patronising, it’s funny, sweet and innocent in a way that perhaps teens aren’t allowed to be today.

From the faithful nature of the film - capturing all of the books best moments - it is clear that director Kelly Fremon Craig is someone who grew up with the book and wanted to do it justice. It’s a genuine delight. Keep an eye out for a cameo appearance by Judy Blume too.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is now showing at Broadway Cinema