Copyright, Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)
Today’s Prayer Focus

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA) for thematic material involving sexual education and some suggestive material.
Not Recommended
Moviemaking Quality:

Primary Audience:
Adults
Genre:
Coming-of-Age Comedy Drama Adaptation
Length:
1 hr. 45 min.
Year of Release:
2023
USA Release:
April 28, 2023 (wide release—3,343 theaters)
Copyright, Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)click photos to ENLARGE
Relevant Issues

Uncorrected confusion about religions and misunderstanding of the true nature of God

Margaret’s mother is “Christian” (although clearly not born-again) and her father is Jewish (non-practicing). Margaret is being raised without an affiliation to either faith.

According to Margaret, God is not Christian, Muslim nor Jewish, or any other religious entity. He is just a Higher Comrade she can turn to, whenever she needs a slight push to keep going.

Why do so many people reject the real God of the Bible, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and created a god of their own liking?

How can we know there’s a God? Answer

What is the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD? Answer

What is “THE FEAR OF THE LORD”? and Why is it important? Answer

What is HUMILITY? and WHY is it important to be humble? Answer

What is the “FURY” of God? Answer

What is the “ANGER OF GOD”? Answer

What are Judgments of God? Answer

About God’s love and an answer to the questions: What is the true nature of God’s love? Is it biblically accurate to say, “God hates the SIN, but loves the SINNER”?


Girl coming of age, beginning adolescence in the 5th or 6th grade

Sexual education in schools and homes

Puberty and menstruation

Peer pressure

Desire for social acceptance

“I want to be like everybody else”


Mother daughter relationship


Plagiarizing her school homework from an encyclopedia


Is Jesus Christ the answer to your questions?
Discover the good news that Jesus Christ offers
Featuring Abby Ryder FortsonMargaret Simon
Rachel McAdamsBarbara Simon
Kathy BatesSylvia Simon
Benny SafdieHerb Simon
Elle GrahamNancy Wheeler
See all »
Director Kelly Fremon Craig
Producer Gracie Films
Lionsgate
See all »
Distributor Distributor: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Trademark logo.Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)
Copyrighted, Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)

The 1970 novel (of the same title) on which this film is based was written by Judy Blume, author of mostly juvenile fiction titles and a few adult novels. She has sold over 80 million copies. Her ideology runs counter to Biblical Christianity. She “wholly supports the trans community” and has earlier described herself as a ‘gender critical feminist’. This and some of her other books have been criticized and sometimes censored from schools beginning in the 1980s for being too adult in subject matter (age-inappropriate), and controversial in the way sexual and religious topics are handled. Some of her books for older children take a “decided turn toward Humanism and sexual promiscuity.”

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.

Margaret Simon is just eleven going on twelve when her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. Margaret’s mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. Margaret has been raised without an affiliation to either faith, and does not practice an organized religion, although she frequently prays to “God” in her own words, beginning by saying, ‘Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.’ She is beginning to feel uncomfortable with her lack of a religious affiliation.

For a school assignment, she chooses to study people’s religious beliefs, hoping to resolve the question of her own religion in the process. Part of her study involves attending different places of worship to better understand religious practice and also to see if one of them might be right for her. She enjoys spending time with her Jewish paternal grandmother, Sylvia Simon (Kathy Bates), who loves her as she is, and hopes Margaret will embrace Judaism after taking her to her synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services.”

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Secular Movie Critics
…a kinder, gentler take on the Judy Blume classic that skips some of the straight talk about growing up…
Amy Nicholson, Variety
…the arrival of this picture, shortcomings and all, could not be timelier. With red state libraries under assault and reactionary book-bannings by the least literate “parents” and school boards and every day’s headlines featuring some new ultra-conservative assault on women’s rights and girls’ rights to their girlhood… [2½/4]
Roger Moore, Movie Nation