By: Grace Kaiser
Moxie is one for the ages. Vivian Carter (Hadley Robinson), a shy junior at Rockport High School is struggling to write her college essay about what she cares about. Her mom, Lisa (Amy Poehler) says that all she cared about when she was 16 was smashing the patriarchy, so that is exactly what Vivan decides to do. Inspired by her outspoken new friend Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena) and her mom, Vivan decides to publish an anonymous pamphlet about sexism and toxic masculinity at her school. Moxie follows the ups and downs of Vivian’s newfound confidence and movement: her relationships, her strength, and her action.
Directed by Amy Poehler and based off of the book by Jennifer Mathieu, Moxie had some old and new faces. Hadley Robinson, Vivian, is an up and coming new actress, who also appeared in Little Women. Nico Hiraga plays Vivian’s love interest, Seth, and did an amazing job. Along with these two, Alycia Pascual-Pena as Lucy and Lauren Tsai as Claudia, portrayed Vivian’s two good friends perfectly, and truly demonstrated how two completely different people can be friends with the same person. Of course, Amy Poehler played Lisa, Vivian’s mom, and didn’t disappoint; she brought the wit and charm that we have come to expect. Moxie had an extremely talented group of actors and actresses.
Although Moxie struggles to complete some of its subplots, it does a wonderful job touching on many issues such as deadnaming transgender people, the sexualization of Black women, date rape, sexual harassment and assault, and much more. The movie isn’t for everyone due to the mature content, strong language, and some teen drinking, but if you care about the feminist movement and gender equality, then this is the movie for you.
