On Wednesday March 3, Netflix released “Moxie,” a comedy-drama directed by Amy Poehler. The movie made a point to address bullying, harassment, and rape featuring young women learning to stand up for themselves in a school where even the teachers seemed more concerned with their sports team then the girls safety.

Overall, the movie was cute. It was refreshing to see a high school based movie featuring relationships that were not solely based on the girl getting the guy. The plot was more focused on addressing important issues that many high schools deal with. 

In terms of how they addressed the issues, the characters in the movie were role models. It featured girls trying to get help from adults, sticking together, and standing up for themselves. While this came with teen angst and defiance of parents, the imperfections of these girls made it more realistic.

“I thought the movie has a really powerful message that is important in today’s society,” said Matilde Camplone, senior. 

This is true, the message was powerful and important, but that wasn’t the only part of the movie that many people enjoyed. 

“Just like most teen movies, there were parts of Moxie I thought were super cringe-worthy, but I really loved the message, the diversity of the cast, and the soundtrack,” said Veronica Walsh, junior.

I completely agree. Representation-wise I give this movie a 10/10. Kids with disabilities were represented, the transgender community, and the bisexual and lesbian communities. Furthermore, it also represented different personality types and people on both ends of the introvert/extrovert spectrum. 

“One of the most important lines in ‘Moxie’ comes from uptight Claudia,” said Sheila O’Malley, writer for RogerElbert.com. “Eventually, Claudia says to Vivian, ‘I do care. You just need to let me do it my way, okay?’ ‘Moxie’ allows for this point to be made, and strongly, across a diverse group of participants. Any group that demands monolithic conformity—or only includes a certain kind of person with a certain kind of outlook/background/attitude—does not deserve to call itself liberating. ‘Moxie’ gets that.”

And this representation continues in even more aspects of the film. While the movie was focused on girls standing up for themselves in a feminist manner, it didn’t make all the boys in the movie stereotypical jocks. A few of the boys were seen supporting the girls throughout their journey. 

“Nico Hiraga’s character Seth was my favorite by far. I love how his character showed that boys/men can be feminists too,” Walsh said.

Another issue that the movie addressed was dress codes and how often specific girls are targeted even when wearing clothes almost identical to those right next to them. I was glad to see this included because it was something that so many girls can relate to.

I was also impressed by the character development of that majority of the characters throughout the film. This is seen in the teachers, in the girls and is even conveyed through many of the relationships throughout the film such as mother-daughters, best-friends, and romantic couples. 

“I thought the writing was a bit corny and the plot was somewhat contrived at times, but despite the shortcomings it was very entertaining still,” Walsh said.

I would definitely recommend “Moxie” to a friend and already have. It conveys feminism in an unconventional way and hits on many important issues. While it is a little cringe at times as mentioned earlier, it’s definitely worth a watch.