Margaret Simon is 11 years old and she's living in hell. Well, actually she's living in suburban New Jersey. But when you're on the cusp of womanhood and awaiting the arrival of certain physical signifiers of which there have so far been no signs at all, Margaret is here to tell you she's living in hell.
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is as fresh a take on the world of girls as Judy Blume's 1970 novel was in its time—which is to say the movie is uncommonly faithful to its source. It positions us in another era with its absence of smart phones and social media, and specifically in the early '70s with a soundtrack stocked with the Guess Who, George Harrison, and Norman Greenbaum. It also draws a colorful contrast between the funky Manhattan out of which we find Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) and her parents, Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Safdie), moving at the beginning of the film, and the sunny promised land across the Hudson River—a place of lawn sprinklers, yard sales, and other exotica—to which Herb's job is compelling them to relocate.
