Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret always felt a little too precious for the big screen. Judy Blume’s tale of faith and puberty and one girl’s clumsy, earnest attempts to make peace with both was a bestseller in 1970 and one of the most banned books in America for the decades that came after. It was open and candid about things that adults rarely bothered to explain to their daughters; a reassuring ally in many a childhood over the past five decades.
Blume had resisted all attempts to bring Are You There God? to the big screen. That changed after a bid from producer James L Brooks – whose legacy of wholesome Americana extends from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to The Simpsons – and director Kelly Fremon Craig. Blume was right to wait. As this tender, faithful adaptation shows, her story couldn’t have been entrusted into more steady hands.
