Review: Moxie

Image courtesy of Netflix.

 

Amy Poehler's "Moxie" is a film that simultaneously manages to be a sweet natured story of a young woman coming into her own and a cross generational story about gender equality in which a shy teenager who doesn't like to rock the boat is inspired by an outspoken new student as well as her mother's secret history as a riot grrrl to effect change at her high school, which is dominated by alpha males and chauvinistic attitudes. Yes, the film cross all of its t's and dots all of its i's a little too perfectly at the end - in which nearly every storyline is wrapped up with a little bow - but it's a charmer all the same.

In the film, Vivian (Hadley Robertson) and her "best friend for life," Claudia (Tsai), make it their life's mission to stay below the radar at their high school, where the jocks annually put out a list of ratings of the school's female student body, emphasis on the "body." As the film opens, Vivian is having a nightmare in which she can't speak - a literal embodiment of a young woman who has no voice. As she walks the hallways of her high school, she and Claudia discuss who they believe will get top ranking in this year's survey - the dubious awards are "most bangable," "best rack" and other misogynistic prizes. The school's golden boy and football star, Mitchell (Patrick Schwarzenegger), is seemingly the leader of the committee.

A new student named Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena) intrigues Vivian, especially after she rebuffs Mitchell's advances and lodges a complaint that he's harassing her. The oblivious principal (Marcia Gay Harden) advises Vivian not to use the word "harass" because, essentially, it will lead to her having to do a lot of paperwork, and suggests instead using the word "bother." Lucy, who tells Vivian she prefers to hold her head high rather than keep a low profile, isn't having any of it.

All the while, Vivian is looking for a subject of interest to write about for her college application. She's not sure what she's passionate about until she takes a closer look at the sexism at her high school and discusses a treasure trove of 1990s memorabilia stored in a closet that contains evidence of her mother's (Poehler in a very effective supporting role) involvement with the Riot Grrrl movement as well as her seeming love of Bikini Kill's music.

Inspired by her mother, who has kept her ideals but lives a middle aged existence of eating ice cream on the couch while watching the news, Vivian starts an anonymous zine called "Moxie," the title of which she steals from a speech by the principal that is meant to inspire students during a football pep rally. In the zine, which Vivian covertly drops off in the school's girls' bathroom, she attacks her school's patriarchy, its sexist rules (Mitchell is named as the shoo-in for an athletic scholarship, but the girls who become inspired by Moxie put forth the name of a young Black female soccer player to challenge him for the scholarship) and the school administration's turning a blind eye to everything from harassment to a rape incident. There's also a young trans student who is angry that she's not allowed to try out for the role of Audrey in the school play, "Little Shop of Horrors."

Naturally, as this is a high school movie, Vivian has a love interest - a skateboarder named Seth (Nico Haraga) who is an obvious ally to the Moxie girls, and theirs is a sweet romance that normally might feel a bit tacked on considering the theme of the film, but in this case works pretty well. There's also a funny sequence in which Vivian's mother insists on meeting the young man, and then torments him about an incident from his childhood.

One of the elements that makes "Moxie" endearing is that nearly every character - and there are quite a few once the Moxie movement picks up steam at the school - is well drawn without being a caricature - well, perhaps, Harden's principal is a bit of one - and feels pretty well realized. 

The film's final moments are a bit too neatly tied up - everything converges a little too perfectly during a school walkout, and I was a bit skeptical during scenes in which pre-teens and teenagers in a film set in the 2020s appeared to be intimately familiar with the oeuvre of Bikini Kill and other riot grrrl bands, but this is a minor quibble. "Moxie" is both charming and has something to say - and that it manages that balancing act without losing much on either side is impressive. A substantive movie about youth - especially one made in America - is nothing to sneeze at.