As Vivian and Claudia arrive for the primary day of junior year, they gossip about a number of the more popular kids, and who could be mentioned on the annual, anonymous online rankings list, which is rife with sexist and superficial labels. Vivian: “It’s so nice to not get on anyone’s radar.” Claudia: “Totally.”
Things are close to change, and it all starts within the English class taught by the amiable Mr. Davies (Ike Barinholtz). A transfer student named Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena during a terrific performance) questions the relevance of the assigned summer reading, “The Great Gatsby” — prompting the aforementioned cocky jock Mitchell to mansplain and condescend to Lucy, who makes it quite clear she’s not getting to take any of Mitchell’s s----, not now and not ever.
Vivian is inspired. She asks her mom Lisa (Poehler) about mom’s teen rebel days back within the 1990s, which results in Vivian finding her mother’s old photo albums and notes and garments — and hearing Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl” and feeling an instantaneous connection. Stirred to action, Vivian creates a woman power zine called “Moxie” (a regard to the principal applauding the cheerleaders for having “moxie”) and leaves copies within the girl’s bathroom — and boom, a movement is ignited.
Augmented by a web component, “Moxie” shines a spotlight on deep-rooted sexism permeating the varsity . The eleven is terrible but they receive the overwhelming majority of funding, while the powerhouse girls’ soccer team can’t even get new uniforms. Nobody says a word about the hulking and leering jock who wears T-shirts with cutoff sleeves to class and sometimes takes his shirt off, but when a female student wears a shirt , she’s sent home for the day. then there’s that poisonous rankings list, with labels like “Best Rack,” “Most Bangable,” “Designated Drunk” and “Future MILF.” Lucy and Vivian become an increasingly disruptive and effective voice for change, much to the consternation of the old-school principal (Marcia Gay Harden) and therefore the juvenile, nauseatingly sexist jerks like Mitchell.
Adapting the Young Adult novel by Jennifer Mathieu, director Poehler and writers Tamara Chestna and Dylan Meyer deftly deliver the socially relevant platform in “Moxie” against the backdrop of familiar highschool Movie scenes, including the obligatory crazy blow-out party; a trying-on-outfits montage; a sweet and awkward romance, and sudden friction between best friends who vowed they’d never let anything get between them. The dialogue is crisp and funny and smart, and feels authentic throughout.
“Moxie” also finds time for a young romance between Vivian and Nico Hiraga’s Seth, a skateboard geek long referred to as “Seth the Shrimp” who has sprouted over the summer and has become something of a hunk, and a sincere and respectful hunk at that. When Seth blows a possible goodnight kiss with Vivian by overthinking it and she or he walks away, he runs after and blurts, “I such as you tons , I do. I got beat my head about it, I started worrying in my head like maybe I shouldn’t come on too strong, you’re like this super powerful feminist, you’re not just a cute girl …” and therefore the poor kid is simply beside himself with good intentions and hesitation, and Vivian’s response is … perfect.
“Moxie” hits a few of minor plot road bumps along the way, and there’s a late, admittedly impactful development that might have carried a good more powerful punch had it not been telegraphed throughout the story. Still, this is often a movie that achieves the difficult balancing act of carrying a crucial and uplifting message while delivering consistent laughs and introducing us to some wonderfully badass teens.
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