Brief Story Line
Vivian (Hadley Robinson - Utopia TV series etc) was just one of the common high school girl with introvert personality whose best friend Claudia (Lauren Tsai - Legion TV series etc) was equally introvert. But when Vivian met with a new student named Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Peña) who was confident and not afraid to go against football captain & bully Mitchell (Patrick Schwarzenegger - Midnight Sun, Echo Boomers etc), it opened her eyes that the school's being too receptive in the annual degrading "branding" on its female students.
Inspired by the rebellious past of her mother Lisa (Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation TV series etc), Vivian started to make a zine called Moxie which inspired other girls at school to speak up on the gender equality. This changed Vivian's life as she found more people with similar thoughts such as Kiera (Sydney Park), Amaya (Anjelika Washington) and few others. But it also constrain her friendship with Claudia who felt left out especially when Vivian getting close with Seth (Nico Hiraga).
As Moxie gained more support and even school's principal Marlene (Marcia Gay Haden - Fifty Shades movies, Pollock etc) began to take notice, Vivian's life became more complicated and took a toll on her young inexperience life. So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Well this movie has some interesting idea about a young girl who started a feminist movement at high school which should bode well with the current situation. The story telling though to me personally was a bit too detailed and frankly too slow for my taste. I know it was to give proper context but I thought it could be done in a less detail manner and get to the point.
One thing that I could not really determine was the genre of this movie. In early stage it seemed like any other teen drama comedy romance focusing on the lead character's life at high school and crush on a boy, but later it became more serious than that. However, the feminism act sometimes did not seem to be focused enough. Yes there was the bit of movement here and there by the girls who supported Moxie but sometimes I thought it got distracted by the side story of Vivian's personal life, making me feel this is a movie about Vivian with Moxie as background rather than the other way around.
In terms of comedy, I did not feel this film fit into that category as there was nothing comedic here (as in only very brief scene that could make me smile). The cast here did their job adequately with Hadley Robinson performed her role quite well. There were one or two younger cast that I was quite familiar though most of them are fresh to me. But there was the surprise minor appearance of Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson in Marvel's superhero movies). Oh and Amy Poehler was also the director and co-producer of this movie which was based on the novel of the same title written by Jennifer Mathieu.
Btw, this film also felt a lot like one of those MTV teen movies/series especially with a lot of new songs that might have been popular now but sadly not for me. One thing that I felt could have been done better was the ending. Despite seemingly providing powerful message, I thought it was over simplified and there seemed to be no proper conclusion on Vivian's act. It was like what she did only have one consequence and none ohers which to me was not really satisfying.
Overall as a teen drama this one is actually not too bad, but I would not consider this to be a wonderful movie. I personally felt it could have been better. So if you are into films with the above attribute, you are welcome to try it.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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