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.
- Released: 2021-03-03
- Runtime: 111 minutes
- Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
- Stars: Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Nico Hiraga, Sabrina Haskett, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sydney Park, Anjelika Washington, Josie Totah, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholtz, Marcia Gay Harden, Josephine Langford, Joshua Darnell Walker, Clark Gregg, Charlie Hall, Avery Bagenstos, Ron Perkins, Aaaron Holliday, Roman Arabia, Greg Poehler, Helen Slayton-Hughes, Xander Evans, Avantika Vandanapu, Kevin Dorff, Carla Valentine, Corey Fogelmanis, Cooper Mothersbaugh, Gracie Lawrence, Brady Reiter, Ji-young Yoo, Aaron Holliday
- Director: Amy Poehler
Comments
- masonfisk - 30 November 2023
YOU GET'EM GIRLS...!
A recent Netflix film directed by Amy Poehler (in her directing debut & who plays the mother here) is a clarion call for the estrogen set at a high school. Poehler's daughter, played by Hadley Robinson, is a normal teen going through the motions of the eternal minefield known as high school who keeps to herself & her best bud, played Lauren Tsai, but one day she witnesses an act of male chauvinist entitlement, by Patrick Schwarzenegger (Arnold's son) when he hassles a recent xfer student, played by Alicia Pascual, when his come-on's find no berth. Taking inspiration from Poehler's high school past when she & her band of female warriors fought the system, Robinson decides to pen a 'zine called Moxie & anonymously dump it in the girls' bathrooms which become a hit & inspires protests against the sexist norms (especially since the principal, played by Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden, & the English teacher, played by Ike Barinholtz, turn a blind eye to the shenanigans) but as Robinson's movement grows (further complicated by Tsai's complaints of alienation & Robinson's 'perfect' relationship w/a boy, played Nico Haraga), she feels she's getting pulled in different directions. When Robinson finally reveals herself as the purveyor of the celebrated 'zine (especially in light of a rape reveal perpetrated by Schwarzenegger on another girl), the movement has the girls of the school leaving en masse as a protest for change. Never pandering to the issues being voiced, this 'all for glory' approach is a welcome balm to the bromides a lesser high school set adventure would find itself, tackling 'metoo' totems head on & giving girls nay young women their much deserved time in the sun. Poehler does the actors proud by making the humor more low key rather than falling prey to comedic hi-jinks. Also starring Clark Gregg (our favorite Agent Coulson) as a potential love interest for Poehler. - majaguara - 11 December 2022
Passe from the point of view of young audience, good textbook for boomers
It looks as if the 45-year-old is only beginning to understand the changes taking place in the world today, which the 23-year-old tried to explain to her with a few examples and wrote a scenario that could work around the year 2000. Regaining the voice by women as the subject of a movie for teenagers in the third decade of the 21st century? They themselves wouldn't believe the film was made in 2022. Also, however toxic environments high schools can be, the scenes of the team captain with the new girl at school - couldn't happen today, it's just against the calculus of probabilities. Maybe in the 90s, but not today. In addition, there are many cringeworthy moments, clichés repeated from thousands of films for teenagers, slogans if relevant today, then only among women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who still have to fight the patriarchy. Such a film would not have been made if it had been written, or at least consulted, by a girl of the age of its protagonists. That's when I checked - the screenwriter is exactly 45 years old :P. - emilijaskyriute - 25 April 2022
Fun and flawed
This got recommended to me on Netflix when it came out but I didn't watch it until now. I expected it to be better, it was evident from the first couples of minutes that it's not a cinematic masterpiece, but it was fun to watch and had great messages. The overall vibe is fun, I especially liked the music and colors used.
The writing was pretty bad, as many others have mentioned. The token diverse characters, like trans, queer and disabled girls could've been explored a lot more (maybe it would work better as a series?). The messages seem to spelled out to us - the audience isn't stupid, it would be a much better watch if we realized things form the characters' actions rather than dialogue.
I think that teenagers (that includes boys too) would find more value from this than adults and older teens, but it's still a fun watch. I especially urge men and boys to watch it since some don't even notice that what they're doing is wrong.
Now, I don't like a lot of the reviews here - they come from men that see women's issues as a threat to them, so it has been rated worse than it actually is. It upset me, so I'm adding a couple more stars to balance those out. - alindsayal - 18 December 2021
An Above Average Forgettable Film
With the world still being stuck in this pandemic, it means we don't have that many new movies coming out but Moxie came out last week and today I sat down and watched it and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a teenager inspired by her mother decided to take a stand against the sexist and toxic ways at her high school.
Main Character Hadley Robinson plays the main character and she does a decent job here. She is a young and pretty inexperienced actress but she does well with the material that she is given, you care about the struggles she is going through for some of the film and the elements of the film that the film does well she does to. The issue is I just thought her character took a complete turn late on in the 2nd act and she actually became annoying, yeah by the end she basically gets you on side again but I can't help and think about the parts of the film where she is unlikeable.
Supporting Characters The collective group of friends she have are all pretty good here too. I mean they are all pretty stereotypical characters but I thought the performers all did decent jobs and hopefully could have long careers ahead. Amy Poehler plays Robinson's mum in the film and she is also good, they have a nice chemistry together and you see the influence she has on her as a mother and the actions she takes forward. Ike Bariholtz is usually an actor I am not fond of but I thought he filled his role as the English teacher well and for a film that isn't that funny I thought he was probably the funniest part of the film. I mean this film has a small role from Clark Gregg which is great to see, even if the film does waste him for sure.
Story The story looks at certain ideals in feminism and equality which obviously these are subjects that should be mentioned and talked about in film and this film does it okay with one really powerful moment happening towards the end of the film. But you can't help but notice that this is one of the most stereotypical and generic stories ever told, if you have seen a high school drama you know exactly what is going to happen here and it becomes very predictable in its execution.
Script The script is okay, there are some decent dramatic moments here, especially the one that takes place at the end of the film. But there is plenty of high school drama, and teen angst that is dull and uninspired as is in the majority of these types of films. Plus there is a romance here that feels unnecessary and kind of even goes against some of the messages put in place here.
Style The film has a pretty exaggerated style to it, I mean this story has some pretty mad conveniences to it but they are so overblown that it works. I dunno, it is just the film doesn't maybe go hard enough with what it is trying to tell and I could have done with more scenes with Poehler and Robinson to really sell that bond and connection.
Overall Overall, this is an above average film. It does what it wants to quite well but there is plenty around it that falters and that stops it from getting a full recommendation. For me it isn't probably worth a watch, but if you do watch it you won't think you wasted 2 hours of your life at least.
Rating - 6/10.
