Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) review

Or, Waiting for Menarche.  Sixth grader Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) comes home from summer camp to find out her parents Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Safdie) are moving from the Big Apple to the suburban hellscape of New Jersey, but she makes quick friends with Nancy Wheeler (Elle Graham) and a bunch of other girls, worries about the changes going on in her body ... and has trouble deciding whether to adopt her mother's Christianity or her father's Judaism.  Just like with her debut feature Edge of Seventeen, I think Craig shows a tremendous amount of empathy for her young cast - she clearly remembers the anxieties of youth and early sexual feelings - even if the final product is too saccharine and "wholesome," making it more appropriate for a younger crowd than anyone else.  I refuse to believe little ladies obsess over their reproductive parts as often as boys do with their wee-wees ... but that's another conversation.  Also, make sure you buy the Judy Blume book this is based on for your own children before the Confederacy bans it and burns the remaining copies.