Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Lionsgate | Release Date: April 28, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 49 Critic Reviews
Positive:
47
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Irish TimesTara BradyMay 19, 2023
Trust Kelly Fremon Craig, the writer-director of The Edge of Seventeen, the best teen movie of the past decade, to translate Blume’s seminal novel into a funny, exhilarating coming-of-age movie that will charm all genders. Read full review
100
Rolling StoneEJ DicksonApr 27, 2023
In the hands of director Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen), Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret isn’t just about adolescence — it’s about the state of womanhood in general, with all of the accompanying sacrifices and vexations and humiliations that come with it. Read full review
100
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldApr 27, 2023
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is both lovingly faithful to its source, and very much its own creation; how lucky we are to have both book and movie, preserved for girls past, present and future. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshApr 27, 2023
What a wonder that the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s beloved 1970 young adult novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is as lovely, heartfelt and, indeed, deeply radical as the original text. Read full review
100
Screen DailyTim GriersonApr 26, 2023
A coming-of-age tale rendered with humour, sensitivity and intelligence, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a marvellous look at adolescence which is frank but also affectionately attuned to the excitement and confusion of being young. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerApr 25, 2023
Beautifully acted and suffused with warmth and humor, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is a film worthy of the long wait in bringing Judy Blume’s classic 1970 children’s book to the screen. Read full review
100
The GuardianLauren MechlingApr 25, 2023
The film is an entertaining comedy that also happens to be a stunning evocation of the fear and yearning that come with standing on the precipice of adulthood. Read full review
100
EmpireBeth WebbApr 20, 2023
A touching and tender adaptation that does justice to a book which means so much to so many. An enduring, superbly performed triumph. Read full review
95
SlashfilmJosh SpiegelApr 20, 2023
Here is a film that, like its source material, treats its characters with care and tenderness, establishing an instant and unbreakable bond with the audience that hits home in scene after scene. Read full review
91
ColliderCarly LaneApr 27, 2023
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret isn't just a long-awaited adaptation; it's a loving, laugh-out-loud one, with clear affection for the original story rendered in every frame. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyDevan CogganApr 20, 2023
The film version is an utter delight, a loving adaptation that's both true to the book and endearingly fresh. Read full review
91
IndieWireKate ErblandApr 20, 2023
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret isn’t just the best Blume adaptation currently available, it’s also an instant classic of the coming-of-age genre, a warm, witty, incredibly inspiring film that is already one of the year’s best. Read full review
90
ABC NewsPeter TraversApr 28, 2023
Hollywood does gloriously right by Judy Blume’s groundbreaking 1970 novel about a pre-teen girl (a stellar Abby Ryder Fortson) in a tug-of-war with puberty and religion. Costars McAdams and Bates exemplify Blume’s refreshing candor. Call it totally irresistible. Read full review
90
SlateDana StevensApr 27, 2023
Craig’s adaptation treats Margaret’s religious questioning with as much curiosity and respect as it does her budding sexuality. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 27, 2023
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is a delightful film, just lovely. Read full review
90
The New York TimesLisa KennedyApr 27, 2023
The director-writer Kelly Fremon Craig’s rendering of the book about puberty, family and nascent spirituality offers lessons in how a cherished object, when treated with tender and thoughtful regard, needn’t turn precious. Read full review
90
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonApr 20, 2023
Thankfully, Craig captures the magic that so many have fallen in love with over the decades. The story explores the uncertainties of religion, sex education, and girlhood with incredible sincerity and without judgment of any option. What's more, it beautifully reveals the side to humanity that society often tries to hide with these concepts — but does so with genuineness and care. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleTrace SauveurApr 27, 2023
If the drama feels occasionally slight, read it as a way in which the film is asking you to understand the perspective of its central character — for Margaret, it’s momentous. And for me, the twentysomething guy in a Bride of the Monster T-shirt and Dr. Martens seeing this movie solo, well, I left choked up seeing something so assiduously warm and sincere. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenMay 18, 2023
A minor miracle. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 27, 2023
Fremon Craig has made a completely satisfying crowd pleaser full of first-rate performances. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 27, 2023
This book deserved a really good film version, and writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig (”The Edge of Seventeen,” also really good) captures Blume’s humane wit and spirit, while adding some new emotional and narrative wrinkles. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 26, 2023
While it took all these decades for “Are You There, God?” to finally gets its day in theaters, it was worth the wait, as writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig (“The Edge of Seventeen”) has delivered a near-perfect adaptation of Blume’s novel that wisely retains its 1970 setting yet no doubt will be as relevant as ever to audiences of all ages. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesApr 20, 2023
Craig’s spin on Blume’s classic is just as exhilarating as her debut film “The Edge of Seventeen.” Her deep respect for the foibles of girldom and her emotionally intelligent exploration of prickly family dynamics make her a perfect match for the material, and elevates Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret far above most modern films that attempt to tackle similar material. Read full review
85
CNNBrian LowryApr 28, 2023
"Are You There God?” addresses youthful preoccupations in a refreshingly relatable manner that feels almost heaven-sent. Read full review
84
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonApr 27, 2023
Margaret’s journey of self-discovery is a fascinating and satisfying watch. Read full review
83
Original-CinBonnie LauferApr 27, 2023
The film adaptation of this treasured novel is absolutely delightful. Written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen), it’s honest, realistic, heartfelt and captures the emotions of Margaret and her young friends perfectly. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubLeigh MonsonApr 26, 2023
This is a funny, sweet, heartfelt exploration of pubescent self-discovery that lives up to its namesake. Read full review
83
The PlaylistLauren J. CoatesApr 20, 2023
Are You There? God It’s, Margaret does an admirable job of honoring a beloved touchstone in the lives of so many young women. Frank yet warm, charming yet brutally honest, Craig’s film pays its due diligence to Blume and her cherished novel. Read full review
83
The Film StageFran HoepfnerApr 20, 2023
At times, It’s Me, Margaret the film, just like It’s Me, Margaret the book, feels a little too raw and embarrassing: like going to buy a bra at a department store with your mother, there is something unspeakably intimate and horrifying about existing in its world for too long. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMay 21, 2023
With a smile that frays a little around the edges, and a peppy enthusiasm that can’t quite hide the doubts, McAdams wrings every last drop of pathos from her scenes, almost upstaging her screen daughter in the process. Read full review
80
The TelegraphEd PowerMay 19, 2023
It is a valentine to the kind of innocent adolescence that modern teenagers will never have a chance to experience. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyMay 18, 2023
It’s a phenomenal performance from McAdams, subtle and gentle in its heartbreak. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMay 17, 2023
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is full of delights, poignant, peppery and plain life-enhancing. For anyone navigating the rocky journey into young adulthood, or any parent trying to help, it’ll feel like a hand stretched out in solidarity. Just like Judy Blume intended. Read full review
80
Little White LiesWeiting LiuMay 17, 2023
Rolling with Margaret’s ups-and-downs, Fortson captures every subtlety of growing up with emotional intelligence and versatility. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Marsha LedermanMay 15, 2023
Director and screenwriter Kelly Fremon Craig does not mess this up. She has created a film that is true to the book’s heart, but is also its own thing. And it is a (mostly) wonderful thing. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 1, 2023
The wonder of Kelly Fremon Craig’s film adaptation of Are You There God? isn’t just that it deals directly, and without condescension, with the vagaries of preteen awkwardness. It’s that it speaks so ardently to the adolescent in all of us—particularly, maybe, women who are going through menopause or already on the far side of it, an event that in some ways returns us to a lunar landscape whose contours we’d forgotten. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithApr 27, 2023
Directed and written by Kelly Fremon Craig, it’s a charmer: sensitive, funny and grounded. It’s also a kind of rebuttal to many woeful cinematic trends, foremost among which is dishonesty, or lack of verisimilitude. Read full review
80
Vanity FairRichard LawsonApr 27, 2023
The film . . . is at once light and serious, a warm and sensitive tribute to the book’s themes that avoids any unnecessary updating. Fremon Craig, whose last film was the excellent teen dramedy The Edge of Seventeen, gives the material just the right spin, letting Margaret and her friends exist wholly in their age. Read full review
80
Total FilmKim Taylor-FosterApr 25, 2023
In an era when many schoolkids are more concerned about gun violence (in the US), cyberbullying and sending nudes than the seemingly more old-fashioned growing pains of who you are and whether the popular boy fancies you, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is a welcome, nostalgic throwback to simpler times. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeApr 20, 2023
It is a responsible and uncomplicated adaptation, one that capitalizes on the story’s lore and legacy. But it’s not withholding, either. The film crucially invites a new generation to join Margaret in the weird, challenging and sometimes wonderful experience of getting older. Read full review
80
TheWrapKristen LopezApr 20, 2023
In a landscape with few movies for families, and even fewer for tween girls, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a fantastic entry. Heartfelt, compassionate, funny, and frank it has the makings of becoming a new classic in the film canon. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 1, 2023
The movie highlights how little things can become big issues within the preteen bubble and draws the audience into a communion with the characters and their circumstances. Although the target audience is unquestionably mothers and daughters, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret has things to say to viewers of all genders and ages. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEric HendersonApr 27, 2023
The sense that they don’t make mass entertainments like this anymore is palpable. Read full review
75
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyApr 25, 2023
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is decidedly and joyfully innocent. It’s refreshing to see a story about tween girls who are not depicted as children or shamed or sexualized. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreApr 28, 2023
If the grown-ups in this coming-of-age story keep drawing all the focus, it’s no shade on Margaret — they just have so much more going on. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrApr 26, 2023
Movies like these barely exist anymore, and certainly not in theaters. Tween girls would do well to seek Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret out. It has all the makings of a classic for the next generation. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 26, 2023
Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig’s film is funny, cutting and true to its source material, an amusingly unblinkered look at girlhood that may be a bit budgetarily-malnourished but could not show up on screens at a better time. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 17, 2023
A sweet, eminently sensible film. Read full review
60
VarietyAmy NicholsonApr 20, 2023
This adaptation, written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (“The Edge of Seventeen”), seems uneasy putting funny, flawed and all-too-realistic Margaret on screen exactly as she is. Read full review
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