‘Moxie’ Review: Rebel With a Cause
Unfocused and too typically unbelievable, Amy Poehler’s “Moxie” appears like a battle between two competing visions: go-girl crowd-pleaser and critical high-school harassment drama. Neither wins.
Primarily based on Jennifer Mathieu’s young-adult novel of the identical identify, the story facilities on Vivian (Hadley Robinson), 16, a quiet woman who transforms right into a insurgent when a brand new pupil (Alycia Pascual-Peña) challenges their college’s sexist tradition. Vivian’s nascent feminism goes into overdrive when, impressed by a group of Nineties riot-grrrl mementos belonging to her single mom (Poehler), she creates an nameless zine, names it Moxie and dumps copies within the ladies’ loos. Identical to that, a revolution is born.
Regardless of an interesting younger solid — Nico Hiraga, as Vivian’s sweetly respectful love curiosity, is a standout — “Moxie” wants fewer stereotypes and infinitely extra nuance. The characters are underwritten and the screenplay (by Tamara Chestna and Dylan Meyer) overstuffed. Transgender and immigrant points, in addition to gender inequality in sports activities, are all superficially checked off in a plot that nostalgically suggests a home made pamphlet from final century is extra more likely to elevate consciousness than a wall-to-wall tradition of #MeToo.
Burdened by oversimplification and a troubling coarseness — one younger lady’s devastating revelation is a mere steppingstone to the movie’s ra-ra finale — “Moxie” is a CliffsNotes information to combating the patriarchy. In its hyper-condensed view, all you want is a tank prime, a Bikini Kill tune and a mass walkout and voilà! The wrestle is over.
Moxie
Rated PG-13 for vulgar language and sexist habits. Operating time: 1 hour 51 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
