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
- PNWHiker - 25 September 2023
A film with subtle, yet surprising moxie!
Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, brace yourselves for a rollercoaster ride of teenage rebellion and feminist awakening! I present to you: "Moxie" - the 2021 movie that's like a breath of fresh air, if that breath came with a side of glitter and a dash of teen angst.
Picture this: the year is 2021, and the world desperately needs a sassy, socially conscious movie. Enter "Moxie," where the teenage rebellion feels like the illegitimate love child of "The Breakfast Club" and "The Future is Female" T-shirts. Director Amy Poehler takes us on a wild journey through the quirky halls of high school, and trust me, it's a trip you don't want to miss.
Our protagonist, Vivian (played by Hadley Robinson), starts as your typical high school wallflower. But like all good coming-of-age stories, she's had enough of the patriarchy's nonsense and decides it's time to shake things up. So, what does she do? She starts a revolution. Not a big deal, right?
The revolution begins with a bang, quite literally, as Vivian's "Moxie" zine sets the school on fire - metaphorically speaking, of course. Suddenly, the quiet school library becomes the war room for a group of diverse, fierce, and fabulous teenage feminists. They may not have superpowers, but they sure know how to wield glitter glue and sharp wit as weapons.
Let's not forget the true star of the show - Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Peña), who's basically the embodiment of all our inner rock stars. She's a force of nature, advocating for gender equality while rocking an epic leather jacket and a killer playlist. Think punk rock meets protest signs - it's a vibe.
And then there's the principal, played by none other than Marcia Gay Harden, who tries to maintain order but is no match for this fearless girl gang. Her facial expressions alone deserve an Oscar nomination, as she watches her school crumble like a house of cards made of old-fashioned gender norms.
But what really makes "Moxie" special is its ability to tackle serious issues with a dose of humor. It's like eating your broccoli with a side of chocolate ice cream - it's good for you, but it tastes like a party in your mouth. The movie brilliantly balances teenage melodrama with feminist awakening, all while making you laugh out loud.
"Moxie" is the kind of movie that makes you want to grab your friends, don your sparkliest outfits, and start a revolution of your own - even if it's just in your living room. So, if you're looking for a funny, yet cool movie that'll leave you feeling empowered, enlightened, and ready to take on the world, "Moxie" is your jam. Who knew teenage rebellion could be this glittery and inspiring? Cheers to smashing the patriarchy, one sequin at a time! - isaacwest-66001 - 9 November 2022
Lack of Imagination
Modern cinema is tremendously defined in this film. It takes a good message: the importance of gender equality, but fails to be unifying and artistic while also showing double-standards.
When you take on a divisive topic, there's no question there's gonna be some ruffled feathers, so it's up to the director to create something unifying. Unfortunately, the otherwise talented Amy Poehler fails here. It feels like more of an attack on men than something that can celebrate our differences.
The key to a unifying message is proper art: if you put a story in or too similar to a real-life situation than you've already divided the audience before the movie begins. You have to create something more fictional so that every audience member has the same view at the beginning of the story. This film is too on the nose.
There's a scene where a black female student suggests that the Great Gatsby does not deserve its incredible status because you cannot have empathy for a rich white male writing about a rich white male. The scene then turns into a blatant and unimaginative sequence where a popular white male speaks over her and his argument is favored because sexism. But this is an example of the hypocrisy and double-standards in this movie. The movie attempts to say that regardless of your sex, status and race, you are a human being, but then blatantly disregards the humanity of someone who happens to be a rich, white male. Ironically, the point of the Great Gatsby is to show how one person can be popular, handsome and rich but in the end have nothing without a love, a very basic human emotion.
This segways into the third major issue: the one-sided nature of the film. The film's intent is to show how wrong a one-sided society is, but in itself glorifies another, different one-sided society by suggesting that men are sexual objects (there is a scene where a male is objectified for his looks). All in all, in their quest to suggest that society should judge character, instead blankets males as misogynistic, and inherently wrong, thereby leaving the audience just as divided as before. - tripp-reade - 16 March 2022
Tepid adaptation
Unfortunately, this adaptation fails its source material, Jennifer Mathieu's wonderful novel, on almost every point, taking the fierce riot grrrl heart of the story and turning it into a half-hearted and confused bleat of a movie. Why is the principal suddenly a woman instead of a man, blunting the novel's full-throated condemnation of patriarchy and misogyny? Why is there an unfunny, running bit about the high school mascot inserted into the story, to no good effect? Why is the love-story subplot from the book brought into the foreground, shoving aside and minimizing so much of Vivian's arc from "dutiful, meek student" to "righteously angry agent of change? And so forth. A missed opportunity. - mianorthwood - 14 October 2021
I absolutely love this movie!
Amazing movie about feminism and standing up for what you believe in. I watched this with my little sisters, and we got pretty emotional.
Inspiring movie. I wish everyone on Earth could watch it. Definitely recommend 👍
