The year is 1970. Eleven-year-old Margaret Simon is enjoying summer camp. 

When she returns home to New York City, she is happy to see her parents and paternal grandma. But her grandma accidentally reveals that Margaret, and her parents, are moving to New Jersey. This leaves the poor child heartbroken. 

Once she is settled in her new neighborhood, though, Margaret meets this girl, Nancy Wheeler. Nancy invites her to hang out at her house. 

Not long after, she introduces Margaret to her friends, Janie and Gretchen. She also tells her about their secret club. It is centered around puberty, both physically and mentally. For example, if any girls there love a boy, they must reveal his name to the other members. They are also required to wear a bra. but Margaret hasn’t developed yet. So, she tells her mom that she wants a bra. Her mom is a bit resistant at first, but then she gladly accepts Margaret’s request.

When Margaret starts school in the new area, she joins her three new friends in the classroom taught by Mr. Benedict. After he introduces himself, he has the students do a small exercise. They state their likes and dislikes. Then he announces a year-long project for them. 

After class, he has Margaret stay after for a bit. He points out that her dislike is religious holidays since her parents will “let her decide on her religion” when she’s an adult. Her dad is Jewish, and her mom is Christian.

Margaret asks her mom why she never met her maternal grandparents. Her mother says that when she married her father, her parents disowned her since they were devout Christians, and refused to accept a Jewish son-in-law.

Later, Margaret is back at Nancy’s little club, where the topics include bra-sizes and first kisses. Margaret just repeats the previous girl’s answer since she doesn’t need a bra, nor has she ever kissed a boy.

At some point, she and everyone in her class at school gets invited to the birthday party of an “uncool” boy, Norman Fischer. Even though she isn’t very interested, she goes to the party.

After dinner, the kids play different games. One of them is spin the bottle. Whoever spins it has to kiss the other person it points to. Margaret gets a popular boy, Philip Leroy.

At school, the 6th-grade girls have to watch a video about menstruation. The girls are grossed out at first, but then they are excited to get them. Margaret, however, gets frustrated that her friends got their periods, but she didn’t. 

Throughout the film, Margaret experiences more envy toward her peers. Thus, it ruins her mental health.

This film brought a lot of memorable moments. One thing I deeply admire is how all the adults are kind, and therefore, likable. Margaret has a good relationship with all of them, including her parents, grandma, and teacher.

That makes it stand out from other movies or books, where characters are in their tweens or over. The adults are often unlikable and/or barely in the stories. But that is because the main characters need to make their own decisions and be independent.

I don’t know about the book this movie is based off of. But I hope the adults are nice there, too.

One issue I had with this movie is how the child characters look and act older. Many of the actors were a bit older when this film was shot in 2021, which isn’t surprising since that is common. One of the actors was 14 and playing an 11-year-old who was tall and went through puberty starting in 4th grade. She looked too old to play a 6th grader, especially since she was old enough for high school.

And the biggest flaw with this is that the kids act more like 8th graders. They are interested in boys and making out with them. It’s also how they interact with each other, such as sometimes being mean or talking like they’re cool. I personally think it would’ve made more sense if the characters’ ages were raised to 13 and were in 8th grade.

Now you may think that is a late time for girls to start puberty. But that’s not necessarily true. It is common for girls to start puberty that late. It’s even more common for girls to start puberty at age 14, and who are already in high school.

Which brings me to my next thought. This film focuses a lot on wearing bras and getting periods. Some scenes go a little too far with that. But this movie is rated PG-13. That could be a bit tough for kids the same age as the characters since some of them aren’t allowed to watch PG-13 rated movies.

However, if they are mature enough to handle some of the content, then I think this movie would make a good watch for them.

The plot is also complex, which can make it a little hard to follow. But I ended up understanding it fine.

The mood is also appropriate for a drama. It is mainly lighthearted with no intense or scary scenes. There is a lot of religious material, though, aside from how Margaret often talks to God about her issues and if He could make them better.

Margaret wants to follow either Judaism or Christianity. There is even a scene where her paternal grandma and maternal grandparents, who are willing to go to Margaret’s house, argue about that. Her maternal grandma declares that Margaret is Jewish. But her other grandparents demand that she is Christian.

However, I don’t think that is such a big issue. In fact, I think audiences will be able to relate to that.

Overall, I enjoyed Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.