Moxie Review

Moxie: noun, archaic. Force of character, determination, or nerve.

This Mom’s got Moxie.

I love a good coming-of-age film, and Amy Poehler directs/stars in this film and she's a national treasure, so we're starting off the right foot. The real test of this film is this: can it portray feminism honestly and make it look cool?

Let's find out! Our protagonist, sixteen year-old Vivian and her best friend Claudia are content to fly under the radar for the rest of high school and then ride off into the sunset at UC Berkeley. Sure the boys anonymously rank girls by their perceived attractiveness and personality, but that's someone else's problem, probably. And sure Vivian's mom used to be a hardcore protester hoping to smash the patriarchy, but you know, she's boring now. She's middle-aged, and therefore her personality has been deadened by the fast-approaching call of the grave. Things aren't going to change for Vivian...

Queue Inciting Event!

Then new student Lucy shows up, refuses to be cowed by sexual harassment and school administration's double standards. Vivian's wowed, and what better way to fight back then to start a photocopied 90's style 'zine? (That's short for "magazine" for you young folk out there.) Vivian starts anonymously fighting the power, and triumph, heartache, and coming-of-age ensue.

Is the feminism portrayed in the film honest? Mostly, yeah. It takes great care to showcase issues that affect the modern teen: the overwhelming discomfort of being objectified, being removed from school for dress code violations (suggesting boys' attention is more important than girls' education,) Trans-inclusion, schools allowing crappy behavior because of boys-will-be-boys mentalities, and lack of appreciation/respect for women's sports/extracurricular activities. Impressively, for a film about a white, middle-class protagonist, it also dives into the complex conversation that not every woman has the same opportunities to rebel against the status quo: gender identity, sexual orientation, health/disability, and race all play a part in the decision to take a stand against the system. That brings us to my first real critique: it would have been nice for the characters representing those challenges to get a little more of the spotlight. In a film that touts the message that feminism belongs to everyone, it would be nice if the script practiced a little more of what it preached. So much time is spent on Vivian that at one point it feels like a new conflict is introduced out of nowhere to keep drama high, and then never addressed again, and that screen time could have been better used by other characters.

Let's get to that second question. Does this film make feminism look cool? Hell, yeah, it does. They have a killer soundtrack that makes you want to stick it to the man. 90's punk group Bikini Kill features prominently and thematically, but there's a mix of newer tracks, too, and some fun covers. Watching the cast of characters come together and call out hypocrisy is cathartic. It's equal parts secret society, righteous crusade, and best-friends hangout. The film even makes talking about consent seem like a cool thing to do, and it scores serious points for that.

I will note that part of the film's method of making feminist protest seem cool is by giving thoroughly one-dimensional antagonists. Minus a clueless English teacher who's a problem without really meaning to be (a stereotype I personally find offensive,) the antagonists in the film are just bad people. It's not that they have good intentions and have internalized negative messages. They're just thoroughly harmful, self-centered human beings. And while it's nice to have someone to hate, it feels like a shortcut. In a movie that's nearly two hours long, there's time to introduce a little nuance in at least one of the antagonist characters: there are monsters out there in the world, but more often there are people who simply can't see their part in systems that harm others, and not teaching a young audience how to deal with those confrontations feels like a missed opportunity.

So, Honest? Mostly. Cool? For sure. If Moxie isn't all it could be, it still has a lot of merit, and it tackles its issues with, well, moxie. 4 'zines out of 5. May give young viewers unrealistic expectations about how imaginative first dates should be. Now streaming on Netflix.