Review: Want a perfectly delightful coming-of-age story? Go to the source: 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.'

Most every coming-of-age story of the last half-century owes some debt of gratitude to Judy Blume’s 1970 young-adult novel “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” Now Blume’s book has finally hit the movie screen, and it’s an unequaled delight.

Set in 1970, the story centers on 11-year-old Margaret Simon (played by Abby Ryder Fortson), who returns from summer camp to learn from her parents, Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Sadie), that they’re moving from their Brooklyn apartment to a house in New Jersey. Margaret fears losing touch with her friends, and especially with her grandmother, Herb’s mother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates).

Margaret tries to deal with her anxieties by praying. And because Margaret has been raised in a secular family — Herb is Jewish, Barbara was raised Christian — she doesn’t have an established method to pray. She just starts talking, introducing herself with the title phrase, “Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret.”

As soon as the family takes up residence in New Jersey, Margaret is visited by Nancy Wheeler (Elle Graham), a hyper-confident rich girl from up the street. Nancy invites Margaret to join a secret club, with two other 11-year-olds, Gretchen Potter (Katherine Kupferer) and Janie Loomis (Amari Price). In their club meetings, the girls talk about boys, whether to start wearing bras, and when they will get their first period. At every turn, Margaret is desperate to fit in, to be seen as “normal.”

Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig — who deftly handled slightly older coming-of-age travails in the 2016 comedy “Edge of Seventeen” — mines the humor from Margaret’s awkward and forthright approach to impending womanhood. The scenes where Margaret goes bra-shopping with her mom (“I can’t wait to take thing off,” Margaret declares on her first fitting) or nervously buys her first box of maxi pads are both funny and touching, as Blume’s discussion of such topics is as lively and honest as it was 50 years ago.

For all the discussion of boys and breasts, though, a good-sized piece of the story is a thoughtful examination of religion. Margaret tells her teacher, Mr. Benedict (Echo Kellum), that she doesn’t like religious holidays, because her family doesn’t celebrate them, so he suggests she turn the exploration of faith into a research project. This leads Margaret to attending temple with Sylvia — a thrill for any grandmother — and finding out the truth about why she’s never met her grandparents on her mother’s side.

This may be one of Rachel McAdams’ best performances, as she drills into Barbara’s stress trying to guide Margaret through puberty while also dealing with the changes in her life — in a subplot (not in the book) in which she deals with being a suburban homemaker.

But the movie would be nothing with Fortson as Margaret. Fortson (who played the pre-blip version of Paul Rudd’s daughter in the “Ant-Man” movies) comes off so naturally as a girl trying to comprehend these life-changing moments, and her big-hearted embrace of Margaret’s constantly curious spirit makes the movie’s big questions about faith and growing up feel as fresh and as challenging as when Blume first posed them.

As a former boy child, I admit that I felt a little jealous watching “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” — because I feel kind of cheated. I never got the boy version of this book (I know Blume published it, “Then Again, Maybe I Won’t,” a year later), in part because my older brothers nudged me toward “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “The Lord of the Rings” and Robert Heinlein’s science fiction. My wish is that the current generation of girls, and boys, take the opportunity to meet Margaret, and learn about life along with her.

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‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.’

★★★★

Opens Friday, April 28, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving sexual education and some suggestive material. Running time: 105 minutes.