Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

➤ Rated PG-13
➤ Theaters

Women don’t forget cringe-worthy moments from those awkward years between childhood and womanhood. This movie version of the 1970 Judy Blume classic is full of moments that many of us would rather ­forget. But just like adolescence itself, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is also filled with spiritual yearning. Thankfully, director Kelly Fremon Craig doesn’t shy away from discussions of God—He is in the title, after all. In the end, we’re assured that yes, God is here, Margaret.

Happy-go-lucky Margaret Simon is an 11-year-old city girl in 1970 when her parents announce they’re moving from New York City to the Jersey suburbs. That means a year full of change—new house, new friends, and perhaps cruelest of all, a new, changing body. Margaret is understandably upset, so she ­confides in the only person she’s ever trusted to understand her.

“Have you thought about it, God? I’ve got a bra now. It would be nice if I had something to put in it.” It seems comical to ask your Maker for breasts, but who among us hasn’t begged God for something we thought we needed?

Some viewers will sink in their seats as Margaret’s newfound friends spend afternoons gabbing over their developing bodies and boys. At its most graphic, the film shows the girls snagging a textbook and going straight to a ­diagram of male anatomy. The girls burst out laughing.

But, overall, it’s a relief to find a 2023 rendering of a 1970 book that’s innocent enough to watch with an actual girl. Emphasizing the unshakable truth that girls become women may seem like child’s play, but in this day and age, it’s worthy of praise.