Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. | 2023 | PG-13 | – 3.2.2

Why is “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “thematic material involving sexual education and some suggestive material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many discussions of maturing bodies and puberty with some diagrams of genitals, a few kissing scenes, flirting scenes, several arguments with name-calling, discussions of religion and religious choice, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on the eponymous 1970 Judy Blume middle-grade novel: When a pre-teen girl (Abby Ryder Fortson) is told that her parents (Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie) plan to move to New Jersey, she is devastated that she will be leaving her friends and her grandmother (Kathy Bates) behind and struggles to figure out who she is in her new setting. Also with Elle Graham, Amari Alexis Price, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Kate MacCluggage, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong and Landon S. Baxter. Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Hebrew without translation. [Running Time: 1:45]

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. SEX/NUDITY 3

 – Several pre-teens at a party play “spin the bottle”: one boy kisses a girl on the cheek and they then play “2 minutes in the closet” and several boys and girls make suggestive sounds when a boy and a girl come out of the closet; another couple go into the closet and the boy kisses the girl twice. A pre-teen girl practices kissing on her bedpost while another pre-teen girl watches.
► Several pre-teen girls watch a pre-teen boy enter their classroom and they all appear smitten. A pre-teen girl watches a teen boy hanging a bird feeder with interest. A pre-teen girl seems to have a crush on a teen boy. A pre-teen girl spreads a rumor about another pre-teen girl being with teen boys and allowing them to touch her.
► A movie in a school discusses the changes in girls’ bodies during puberty (we see a drawing of a teen girl with the outline of breasts and pubic hair); there is also a drawing of a uterus and the description of the flushing of blood and tissue during menstruation. A pre-teen girl becomes upset, cries in a bathroom and asks for her mother (her menstrual cycle has started); her mom tells her friend, “It’s her first time and she’s a little scared.” A pre-teen girl stands up in the bathroom and realizes that her menstrual cycle has started and she calls for her mother; the woman looks in the toilet (we do not see anything) and gets sanitary napkins for the girl to use. A pre-teen girl changes into a bathing suit (we don’t see her undressed) in another girl’s room and the second girl says, “You’re really flat,” followed by proclaiming that she is not. Pre-teen girls exercise to increase their busts and repeat, “We must, we must, we must increase our bust.” A pre-teen girl has developed beyond her years and we understand that she has been bullied for it. Two pre-teen girls go to the store to buy sanitary napkins and are embarrassed when the cashier is a teen boy.
► A pre-teen girl prays about the size of her chest. A pre-teen girl says that a rule of a secret club is that everyone needs to wear a bra and another pre-teen girl looks at bras in a catalog before telling her mother that she wants to get one. A teen boy pinches a teen girl on the arm on her birthday and says, “It’s a pinch to grow an inch. And, you know where you need that inch.” Pre-teen girls talk about their menstrual cycles and that they must tell each other when they start.
► Pre-teen girls wear bikini swimsuits that reveal bare abdomens, shoulders, backs and legs. Several pre-teen girls are shown wearing one-piece swimsuits and swimming in a camp setting. A pre-teen girl tries on a sanitary napkin (we see her pull down her pants (her bare legs and underwear are seen). Pre-teen girls look at a “Playboy” magazine and we see a cover model wearing a swimsuit (cleavage and bare shoulders are seen). Dancers in a show wear costumes that reveal legs to the hips and cleavage while doing high kicks. A pre-teen girl shows other girls an anatomy book with a drawn diagram of the male genitals (we see it) and the girls are upset by its appearance describing what it looks like; one girl says that her brother’s looks like that. A pre-teen girl tries on a starter bra and dances around her room with it stuffed with socks. A woman wears low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in a few scenes.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – A man cuts his hand on a lawnmower (we see blood).
► Two pre-teen girls argue in a library and call each other names. Several adults argue over a pre-teens girl’s decision about what religion she is. A pre-teen girl says, “I did something really awful.” A pre-teen girl attends a variety of religious services trying to decide if she wants to join any of them; her parents tell her that she can decide on her own when she is older. A pre-teen girl writes in a paper for class, “religion makes people fight,” and that she thinks, “There’s nobody listening, there’s only me.” A woman says that her daughter’s grandmother is a bad influence. A pre-teen girl yells for her mother in a couple of scenes complaining about her older brother annoying her and her friends. A woman remarks about diners in New Jersey as where mafia members shoot each other. A woman complains that life expectancy is shortened when you are not near loved ones. A woman says that her parents are devout Christians and they disowned her when she married a Jewish man. A pre-teen girl asks God to make sure nothing bad happens to her when she is riding alone on a bus to the city.
► A pre-teen girl is jealous of another pre-teen girl when a pre-teen boy kisses her at a party. Drivers honk and yell at a woman for double-parking on a city street. A woman smells under her arms in a couple of scenes and her daughter asks her if it smells bad. A pre-teen girl does not wear socks with her shoes and her mother warns her that she will get blisters (we see red marks on her heels later). A pre-teen boy blows something sticky onto the ceiling of a room during a party. A pre-teen girl says that someone described menstruation as having an odor like, “the monkey bars.”

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. LANGUAGE 2

 – 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (schmucks, stupid, toots, idiot, weird, dumb, jealous, normal, regular, liar, cheating, absolutely miserable), exclamations (duh, shut-up, ew, oh man, oh my goodness, oh my gosh, oh honey, big deal, stop it, jeez), 1 religious profanity (GD), 25 religious exclamations (e.g. oh God, oh my God, Jesus, God, Lordy, a pre-teen girl prays to God to help her with a variety of stumbling blocks). | profanity glossary |

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man and a woman drink wine with food, and people drink wine with a meal.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Growing up, maturing, puberty, menstruation, bust size, body development, relocating, finding yourself, only children, rules, confession, jealousy, sacrifice, independence, being happy.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. MESSAGE

 – Growing up is a challenge.