Film: Are You There God? It is Me Margaret

'Are You There God? It is Me Margaret' is a sweet but insightful film based on Judy Blume's best selling book of the same name, which has become an American classic, alongside 'Catcher in the Rye' for its evocative portrayal of growing up in the 1950s.

Blume had always resisted offers to have the book filmed, but when she was approached by film director Kelly Fremon Craig, who had loved the book as a teen, and triple Oscar winning producer James L Brooks, who credits included the Simpsons, the Mary Tyler Moore show and, weepies like Terms of Endearment, she felt confident enough to entrust her book into their hands.

And they have done her proud. The adaption is both faithful to its source and fresh and engaging for the first time viewer.

This humorous but touching film tracks a year in the life of 6th grader Margaret Simons. She finds herself not only in a new environment due to her father's new job but also in the new world of adolescence, as she tries to fit in with her peers and yet be true to herself.

She is quickly accepted into the gang but then learns that one of the membership requirements is to wear a bra, which is new territory for her, as she persuades her mother to buy her one, even though neither she nor the other gang members really need one.

Based as it is on the author's own experiences of belonging to such a group, the film offers a peak into the secret world of teenage girls and their preoccupations - their fears and secret crushes, the desperate need to belong and to conform. Here they practice kissing the bedpost and bust enhancing exercises while chanting the mantra 'I must, I must, increase my bust' as they jostle for position as to who will get their period first.

The film looks at the funny side of these first awkward fumblings but also portrays the cruelty of adolescence particularly towards those who are on the outside and the pressure to conform. Margaret's mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams) has her own journey to make. As well as reconciling with her own parents who have objected to her marriage to a Jew, she learns to create her own boundaries rather than being swallowed up into the tyrannies and demands of the local PTA.

Because of all the pressures she is facing, Margaret starts talking to God. She wonders why her parents have not taught her about religion (we find out in the film why this is). Margaret's innocence and openness to faith contrasts with that of the adults in her life who have either rejected religion like her parents, or want to recruit her to their particular brand like her Jewish grandmother or narrow minded maternal grandparents. As Margaret starts to explore faith, we get to experience through the eyes of a child, a visit to a Jewish synagogue, an all Black Gospel-singing evangelical church and Catholic confession.

The acting is overall excellent. Kathy Bates as the flamboyant Jewish grandmother is particularly scene stealing, but Abby Ryder Fortson, who plays 12 year old Margaret more than holds her own, giving a true and touching performance of what it is like to be a teenager. The film may be set in the 1950s where drugs, and gender issues are not referenced in a way they would be today, but everyone can identify generally with that vulnerable and scary time when you have to leave childhood behind and start paddling in the shallows of adulthood.

'Are You There God? It is Me Margaret' has just just gone on general release in the UK.

Watch a trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVk3N7Z6R4