BEFORE: This is Mother's Day film #3 of my little mini-chain devoted to mothers. This plotline seems to be about the relationship between a teen girl and her mother? That's the plan, anyway - the previous two films were all about mothers and daughters so hopefully thematically these all go together somehow. Clark Gregg carries over from "Lovely & Amazing" and now I have to start planning for Father's Day, real soon at least.
THE PLOT: Inspired by her mom's rebellious past and a confident new friend, a shy 16-year-old publishes an anonymous zine calling out sexism at her school.
AFTER: OK, there's some mother-daughter relationship stuff here, but it's not really the focal point of the film - so glad I didn't program this film exactly on Mother's Day, then. I think I played it just right by landing "Lovely & Amazing" right on the holiday. But also, it's May, and this is my back-up month for programming films about school, if I can't fit them into a September line-up. A school-based film can go anywhere, of course, but September is "back-to-school" month and May is graduation month, so if I can get a (non-romance) film set in a school into one of those months, I'm happy and satisfied. Whatever keeps the chain alive, of course, but also whatever fits with the calendar is appreciated, too. I have another school-set drama scheduled for two days from now, so there you go, it's a loose theme for the week.
This is really a film about the struggle for gender equality, and how long it's taking to get there. High school, of course, is a microcosm for the nation, or the world, so the negative attitudes that impede the progress of anything can probably be found there. Until there are girls playing on the football team in addition to male cheerleaders, well, we're not THERE yet. But first, maybe we have to determine if THERE is where we want to be - is it? I suspect that women may find that they want the things that the boys have, and then when they get them, they may not want those things anymore. And that's OK, it's really the RIGHT to have the same rights that everyone deserves, even if they don't take advantage of those rights, they may be nice to just have.
In the little, we sometimes see evidence of the big - so if there's inequality in something like the high-school dress code, or if male football stars are regarded higher by the faculty than, say, female soccer stars, well, then there's an inequality. The English lit teacher in this film gets called out by his students for not speaking up for equality, but as a white male he doesn't feel comfortable in weighing in on issues that affect women and minorities. But then, of course, he risks being accused of "not doing enough", or really anything. Well, if you're silent than you're really only helping the people in power, and these days it's "Down with the patriarchy!" I recently had a job interview for a company that has stated that diversity is one of their main goals, and now I've almost convinced myself that I may not get the job because I'm a white male. Why couldn't I, for example, be a white male who champions the cause of diversity? Unfortunately that's something of a contradiction, because diversity would be more easily obtained by just giving the job to someone else. I may agree that white men should maybe be a little less outspoken for a while, but then how do I say this publicly without mansplaining it?
Right, the movie. Vivian is in the 11th grade, and she and her bestie Claudia get a little grossed out every year when the male students at Rockport High release their "superlatives" list online - they rank the girls as "Best Ass" or "Most Bangable" and everyone is aware of the list and how sexist it is, but nobody DOES anything about it. Not until Vivian creates her own underground comic 'zine called "Moxie" and calls out the boys at school for being sexist a-holes. She leaves copies in the girls bathroom and before long everyone is talking about the 'zine and speculating over who published it. Lucy, the new girl in school is the most likely candidate, because she's already been harassed by Mitchell, the captain of the football team. Of course.
Lucy takes her problems to the school principal, who refuses to sign off on her "harassment" charge, because that's a loaded term that would require her to fill out a form. Instead, the principal takes Lucy to the band director and suggests that she join the marching band to channel her energy more positively. OK, so the principal doesn't want to tarnish the school's reputation or that of the star quarterback, I get that - but RIGHT THERE Is the answer for how to best deal with the problem, simply pursue the charge of harassment, and involve the media or the courts if necessary. The principal has accidentally tipped her hand and revealed the thing that she's most afraid of, so that's the course the girls should pursue. Comic magazines and stickers on lockers will only get you so far, a court ruling is, like, legally binding.
The girls register "Moxie" as an official school club, one with feminist goals, and really, this is fine, I think we need more of this sort of thing in our country's schools, no question. But the meetings are disjointed, and along with issues over the unfairness of the dress code, and the complaints over the sports scholarship practically HANDED over to the male football star over the female soccer star, some of the club's concerns seem, well, rather petty, like black girls being sensitive about white people touching their hair. I'm sure this is an important issue to some people, but in terms of priority, maybe we should start by dealing with unwanted sexual assault and rampant sexism, and work our way down to unauthorized hair touching? Just a thought.
Vivian learns that her mother was a bit of a rebel herself, and was involved with student protests back in her day - perhaps these were important protests regarding equal rights, or against a war, or who knows, maybe it was like my junior high, where we just protested to get better school lunches. And just another NITPICK POINT here, just because you listened to Bikini Kill music back in the day, that doesn't make you a rebel, just a fan of a certain kind of music. The film seems to equate the two things, which is kind of a misnomer, because not all punk music fans are radical protesters, and vice versa. I'm sure there are more intellectual protesters out there who maybe prefer classical music, or jazz - the two things don't necessarily go hand-in-hand, that's all I'm saying.
Vivian gets a bit caught up in the feminist movement and the protest culture, which I think did happen for a number of people during the pandemic, when the Black Lives Matter movement came along, I think a large part of it was that people were out of work, tired of being confined at home, and just looking for an outlet to vent their frustrations. Not that the cause wasn't valid, it certainly was, but there were a lot more people with time on their hands than usual, again, just saying. For Vivian her interest in being part of a movement comes along just when her mother is starting to date again, and when Mom's new boyfriend comes over for dinner, he can't do anything right by Vivian, who's currently dreaming up ways to take down the patriarchy. At the same time, her newfound radical nature is calling her first romantic relationship with classmate Seth into question.
Someone leaves an anonymous note for the Moxie founder and reveals that she was raped by the football star, and this leads Vivian and her group to stage a full walk-out protest. Well, they can punish five people for skipping school, but they can't really punish five hundred, can they? Not if that's half the school - so I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere, if you've got to make a point, you've just got to go big. Unfortunately, the movie never really follows up with what happened to the football star, did he lose his scholarship after the rape allegation? Did it then go to the second-place finisher? This seems like a glaring omission, that's there's no follow-up with any successful effects of the walk-out protest. Well, either way, Vivian finally has something to write about in her college essays, so there's that. Starting a radical feminist high-school club is bound to go a long way these days, at least with certain colleges.
It's also a great idea to have diversity in casting, there are people of all races, colors and gender identities in this cast. That's wonderful, but it's also a bit of a problem because they cast a wide net and found a number actors without a lot of acting experience. Sure, everybody's got to start somewhere, but most movies also tend to be a bit better when they feature people who can convincingly deliver lines without calling attention to the fact that they are, in fact, reading lines. Again, just saying.
Also starring Hadley Robinson (last seen in "I'm Thinking of Ending Things"), Lauren Tsai, Alycia Pascual-Pena, Nico Hiraga (last seen in "Booksmart"), Sabrina Haskett, Patrick Schwarzenegger (last seen in "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse"), Sydney Park, Anjelika Washington, Emily Hopper, Josie Totah (last seen in "Other People"), Amy Poehler (last seen in "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You"), Ike Barinholtz (last seen in "The Oath"), Marcia Gay Harden (last seen in "Confess, Fletch"), Josephine Langford, Joshua Darnell Walker, Charlie Hall, Avery Bagenstos, Eon Song, Ron Perkins (last seen in "Being the Ricardos"), Aaron Holliday, Greg Poehler (last seen in "Wine Country"), Helen Slayton-Hughes (last seen in "The Onion Movie"), Kevin Dorff (also last seen in "Other People"), Corey Fogelmanis (last seen in "Ma"), Cooper Mothersbaugh, Gracie Lawrence (last seen in "The Sitter"), Ji-Young Yoo, Brady Reiter, Raven Kimoy, Doug Smith, David Schwartz, Sydney Bell, Kelly Vanryan, Earl John Verzo.
RATING: 5 out of 10 tank tops
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