Fifty years after “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?” was published, Judy Blume’s seminal young-adult novel is finally headed to the big screen. Lionsgate released on Thursday a trailer for the adaptation, starring Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Benny Safdie and Abby Ryder Fortson.
Set in the early ’70s, big changes are in store for 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Ryder Fortson) when her family leaves New York City for the suburbs of New Jersey, just as she’s on the cusp of adolescence.
“Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret,” she prays before starting her first day at her new school. “Please, just do this one thing for me: let me be normal and regular like everybody else, just please please please please please!”
Margaret and her new friends are equally freaked out and excited by the notion of growing up, forming a secret puberty club.
At the same time, Margaret’s mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and father (Benny Safdie) are having their own issues adjusting to the new neighborhood, while her grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates) resents them for moving.
“It gets tiring trying so hard all the time, doesn’t it?” Barbara tells her daughter in one scene.
There’s a lot to laugh at and relate to in Margaret’s efforts to fit in and grow up, whether that’s buying period products for the first time or performing a chant in hopes of increasing her bust size.
Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig is back with her first film since 2016’s “The Edge of Seventeen,” which starred Hailee Steinfeld and Haley Lu Richardson. Producers are Fremon Craig, Judy Blume, James L. Brooks, Julie Ansell, Richard Sakai, Amy Lorraine Brooks, and Aldric La’auli Porter, with Jonathan McCoy executive producing.
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” premieres in theaters April 28, 2023.
Watch the full trailer above.
