Judy Blume finally approved an “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” movie

[Anonymous]

My sister read the hell out of this book. I think I read it once. But, I was a boy, and "Then Again Maybe I Won't" spoke to me. They dealt with roughly similar themes, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was disappointed to see it’s PG-13. Will it be appropriate for a 9 year old?

yes. I am taking my 10yo. She got her period and had breasts already, plus we read the book.

I just read a review that said the movie shows the girls finding Playboy in Dad’s room, has the girls talking about sexual urges, and has some kissing in a closet scene. It feels a little too mature for my 9 year old. We will pass.

I'm a Gen-X mom who memorized the book in the 1980s. My 11 year old (she'll be 12 next month) and I saw it last night at the early screening. We loved it! We read the book together months ago.

With regard to the Playboy scene, it's really not a big deal at all. They look at the centerfold (nothing is shown) and comment on "how round they are", and Gretchen says that hers look like "little wizard hats." I don't recall anything about "sexual urges" - they do talk about boys they think are cute, like most pre-teen girls. The spin the bottle and the kissing in the closet are just pecks, not full-on making out. In the book, Nancy (an annoying, bossy show-off who acts much more sophisticated than she really is) practices kissing on a pillow, but in the movie, she kisses her bedpost. Philip pinches Margaret on her birthday and tells her it's a pinch to grow an inch, and "you know where you need that inch." I don't think there is anything in this movie that kids haven't already seen or heard at school or on the bus, but I imagine very conservative parents, ones who might support legislation like Florida House Bill 1069, might still find something objectionable. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-bill-ban-menstruation-education-elementary-school/

I found this movie to be very well done. The 1970s music and the period costumes and sets are awesome. Kathy Bates is fantastic as Grandma Sylvia. Rachel McAdams is great as the flower child artist mom who doesn't quite fit in with the strait-laced, uptight suburban moms with their beehive hairdos. It's set in 1970 so there's still some leftover 1960s vibes happening. The religious scenes run the gamut from the Jewish temple, the African-American Baptist church, the mainline Protestant church, and the Catholic Church. The tug-of-war between the grandparents on what religion Margaret should be is well done as well. Margaret says something that resonates in today's political climate and culture wars - she observes that "religion causes people to fight." Yet, she still has her own relationship with God.

I also loved how inclusive the film is - Janie, Mr. Benedict, and Freddy Barnett are African-American. In the scene where everyone is getting ready for the fancy dinner party at Norman Fisher's house (in the book he was "that drip" Norman Fishbein, but in the movie he kind of resembles Rowley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies) they show the girls getting their hair done, and Janie's mom heats up the hot comb to do Janie's hair. We cracked up at the scene where Margaret and Janie buy Teenage Softies pads at the drugstore so that they're ready for their big day.

And the Laura Danker angle was well handled too. Laura is a 6th grader who developed earlier than the other girls and she's the target of teasing because of it, and in her interactions with Laura, Margaret learns an important lesson on how to treat people.

Opening day is Friday, April 28th - go see the movie! Since we were there for the early screening, we got some free Margaret merch (drinking cups with the movie logo) and a representative from the movie company was there after the screening to collect comments from us - how we rated the movie, our age group, would we rent or buy the movie if it became available and in what format, what was our main reason for seeing the movie, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I predict only moms will be in the theater. My 11 and 14 year olds would not be caught dead seeing this, especially with me. They are too cool for school now. Sigh.

I'm forcing my teenage boys to see it with me. It'll be exquisite torture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I predict only moms will be in the theater. My 11 and 14 year olds would not be caught dead seeing this, especially with me. They are too cool for school now. Sigh.

I'm forcing my teenage boys to see it with me. It'll be exquisite torture.

Oh my! 😳

[Anonymous]

I’m bringing my 9 year old, she just read the book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks so cute and I’m so glad it takes place at the time the book was actually written vs. in the present day.

Really? I kind of wish they had updated it. DD is definitely not going to get the belts/pad thing if they include that.

Does your daughter also get confused by horses and carriages instead of cars? Just explain to her that they did things differently back then.

How's she going to handle reading "The Red Tent"? LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was disappointed to see it’s PG-13. Will it be appropriate for a 9 year old?

yes. I am taking my 10yo. She got her period and had breasts already, plus we read the book.

I just read a review that said the movie shows the girls finding Playboy in Dad’s room, has the girls talking about sexual urges, and has some kissing in a closet scene. It feels a little too mature for my 9 year old. We will pass.

Are you there, God? Please tell me this poster is joking.

[Anonymous]

I saw it at last night's early screening. I went in prepared to be transported into the past swept up by the story (again), but I really wasn't. It had some sweet moments and good performances, but overall fell flat to me - really more of a Netflix film but I can see why the producers wanted to make a big deal out of it.

My GenX bladder was full when it ended so I had to run out - wasn't aware of any pollsters or swag!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I predict only moms will be in the theater. My 11 and 14 year olds would not be caught dead seeing this, especially with me. They are too cool for school now. Sigh.

I'm forcing my teenage boys to see it with me. It'll be exquisite torture.

So weird how this is okay to say (I guess) but a dad saying he was taking his teen girls to see “then again, maybe I won’t” (the boys coming of age book by Blume that features pre teen boy stuff like allusions to masturbation and wet dreams) and laughing about how he would enjoy how uncomfortable they felt would be widely considered creepy.

[Anonymous]

The worst part of And Then Again Maybe I won’t is the vouyerism stuff. Honestly it’s very creepy and I don’t think the book was severe enough as to how bad this was. My memory is that he simply decides not to do it anymore. I don’t know if that’s sufficient of a lesson these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst part of And Then Again Maybe I won’t is the vouyerism stuff. Honestly it’s very creepy and I don’t think the book was severe enough as to how bad this was. My memory is that he simply decides not to do it anymore. I don’t know if that’s sufficient of a lesson these days.

Oh that’s right - isn’t he watching his neighbor? This wasn’t one of the ones I reread over and over so I don’t remember it well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I predict only moms will be in the theater. My 11 and 14 year olds would not be caught dead seeing this, especially with me. They are too cool for school now. Sigh.

I'm forcing my teenage boys to see it with me. It'll be exquisite torture.

seriously? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst part of And Then Again Maybe I won’t is the vouyerism stuff. Honestly it’s very creepy and I don’t think the book was severe enough as to how bad this was. My memory is that he simply decides not to do it anymore. I don’t know if that’s sufficient of a lesson these days.

I mean, I think that's the very best outcome! He matured on his own to realize it was wrong. Stopping doing something because you got caught and punished doesn't really make one understand how it's wrong--just that getting caught sucks.

[Anonymous]

Sent am 50s, I don’t recall much about this book at all. It was VC Andrew’s that was banned that I recall.

[Anonymous]

Getting very good reviews!