Girl in Progress (2012) Reviews

• Great movie, nice twist on the classic coming of theme

  Nuni55462012-09-03

  I watched this movie last night and thought it was a great movie. The movie starts off slow and a bit quirky. At times it even feels like it is trying to hard to be something its not. Then somewhere in the middle, it drops the quirky and the story develops. I became invested and began to care for the characters. The acting was good. Both main actresses do a great job in their roles as mother and daughter. As an educator myself, I see these types of mothers and daughters almost every school year. It was nice seeing their story be told and also one from Latin roots. I would recommend this movie because at the end of it all, you leave the movie with some thoughts and emotions tied to the characters. Good film.

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• Really, Really Slow Progress

  Chris_Pandolfi2012-05-11

  The idea of a teenage daughter rebelling against her mother under the guise of gaining independence is compelling. The fatal flaw of "Girl in Progress" is that this idea is not taken seriously until the final act, at which point we've been so turned off by the plot and characters that we no longer care. It really is shocking how badly this movie is structured and how poorly the characters are developed; what should have been a poignant and insightful generational story has been reduced to an implausible and inconsistent mess. It starts out at the level of a second-rate sitcom, one that makes the dread mistake of believing the jokes it's telling are actually funny. It then makes a wild shift in tone and becomes shamelessly sentimental. This is not to suggest that it turns dour and depressing; it simply becomes mechanical, with all the emotional loose ends tied up into neat little knots. Taking place in Seattle, it tells the story of a teenager named Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) and her mother, Grace (Eva Mendes), who got pregnant at seventeen, was kicked out of the house by her tyrannical mother, never finished high school, never got married, and now works as both a maid and a waitress in a seafood shack. She talks the talk about going back to night school, getting her diploma, and moving towards a computer career. That's actually the reason she and Ansiedad moved to the Pacific Northwest in the first place. The thing is, they have moved numerous times in the past several years. And Grace is no closer to starting night school. What's the holdup? Basically, she has refused to grow up. She has had several men in her life and is currently dating a married gynecologist (Matthew Modine). One could make the case that she's fun to be around, but she really isn't there for Ansiedad the way a parent should be. Ansiedad, obviously aware of her mother's caviler attitude about everything, rebels in school by making inappropriate class presentations. Then her English teacher (Patricia Arquette) introduces to her the concept of the coming-of-age story, and this is the point at which the film goes spectacularly wrong. In learning about such stories, in which a character or set of characters transitions from childhood to adulthood, Ansiedad decides that she has been a kid long enough and that she must accelerate her journey towards maturity and independence. She researches coming-of-age stories extensively, especially in regards to the formula they tend to follow. From that, she compiles a list of life experiences that she must go. She then makes a creative-looking arrow chart and enlists her best friend, Tavita (Raini Rodriguez), to help her cross every item off the list. In following it, Ansiedad proves she knows absolutely nothing about authentic coming-of-age stories. Her methods are cruel, manipulative, dangerous, and quite frankly, stupid. Had director Patricia Riggen and screenwriter Hiram Martinez been aware of this, perhaps this plot device would have worked. Alas, they initially treat it as a lighthearted comedy routine. Essentially, she believes she must go from being a "good girl" to a "bad girl," at which point she will miraculously come out the other side an adult. On the journey, she will join the chess club, dress nerdy, provoke the mean girl, manipulate her into friendship, start dressing as a bad girl, lose interest in school, catch the attention of the one boy who's a womanizing jerk, and ultimately lose her virginity to him. She will also pretend to dump Tavita by making fun of her weight and sneak into a nursing home just so that she can claim sickly old woman as her grandmother. Ansiedad is so desperate to go through these life experiences that she will steal money from her mother, lie to authority figures, and intentionally ruin her reputation. How could anyone in their right minds believe this to be suitable material for a comedy? This is just tactless and insensitive. This story needed to be in the hands of filmmakers who actually understand people, teenagers and adults alike. The characters in this story are about as authentic as three-dollar bills. By the time we reach the final act, at which point it becomes a bit more dramatic, the damage has already been done. We no longer have it within us to like them, or even to invest in them for dramatic purposes. Grace is the subject of a silly and barely developed subplot involving suddenly becoming the manager of the seafood shack and a busboy-turned-waiter nicknamed Mission Impossible (Eugenio Derbez), who can barely speak English but clearly has a thing for Grace. He does something for her, something that largely exists only in movies like this. His promise to correct his mistake is even less believable, if such a thing was even possible. Meanwhile, Grace continues to see her married lover on the sly, eventually figuring out that he's a sleazebag. We, of course, had figured that out as early as the first scene. If "Girl in Progress" is what counts for a coming-of-age story nowadays, we might be forced to go back to the drawing board. Its title isn't even deserving of the word "progress." -- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)

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• Obnoxious Teen Tantrum: The Movie

  darkness_visible2012-09-08

  Good lord, where is a Final Destination style Heath Robinson teen kill when you really need it? Generally I love meta movies in the form of "If this were an (insert genre) this would happen", in this case Bildungsroman, but this one contrived to be so utterly devoid of charm or wit that I just about wanted to slit my wrists. And the sad thing is that the ingredients available were so great - Eva Mendes + Patricia Arquette + Matthew Modine = YES PLEASE!!! The only problem was that the role given to the teen actress protagonist was absolutely unbearable. I don't mean any disrespect to the actress because she committed to the role 100% - it was the fault of the writer and director. What could have been heartwarming and cathartic (like Easy A for example) ended up being a great big nerve-grating, embarrassing snorefest. 3 out of 10 because I'm feeling generous.

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• What a beautiful, sensitive change!

  rawiri422012-12-05

  Girl in _Progress is actually a very simple, straightforward story about a young girl doing her best to cope with her own adolescence as well as her not-much-older mother who, in actual fact, is doing almost the same thing. Due to her history (harsh, non-understanding mother), Grace (Eva Mendes), is desperately trying to find the love that she didn't get when she was Amiestad's age - and why shouldn't she? I suspect that this movie is a lot closer to real life than a lot of viewers realise. Teenagers forget that their parents have given them the very best years of their lives form the time they were born right up to the time they think they know everything - and then some more! Fortunately Amiestad realises this a lot sooner than many kids her age but not before hurting her bet friend unforgivably (even though her best friend DOES forgive her!) In this film, mother is only about 34 or 35 and still a beautiful woman who has the very same needs as her daughter - although her daughter (initially) totally fails to recognise that fact. Like many teenagers, she thinks that the world revolves around her - but it doesn't and, at least in this movie, she finds out before it's too late. I would suggest that this should be compulsory viewing for all adolescent kids but I fear that, in a lot of cases, they would shrug their shoulders and just say, "Whatever!" As Ned Kelly said when told he was to be hanged at ten o'clock the next morning, "Such is life!"

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• Quite funny in parts - Eva is brilliant

  phd_travel2013-05-30

  For those who remember Cher and Winona Ryder in Mermaids and liked it, this is an updated Hispanic irresponsible mother and cry for help daughter comedy. There are some laugh out loud moments. The drama and comedy don't blend that smoothly as hoped but overall it's a cute story. The performances are good. Eva is funny and touching. She is a great comedienne and very convincing in the more serious moments. It's nice to see her in a real latina role speaking Spanish. She is believable showing blue collar struggles - much more than Jennifer Lopez. Strange casting of Matthew Modine as the married cad who romances Eva's character. He is usually the good guy so it's a bit strange to see him in the role. Overall it isn't has polished as Mermaids but it's worth a watch.

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