A few days ago I was browsing through Netflix, and came across this movie called Moxie. The theme in the movie really caught my attention. Netflix and Paper Kite Productions worked together to create this awesome girl power movie about a girl who fights sexism at her high school, which, I think, is a very interesting topic to make a teen-movie about. Moxie is based on the novel “Moxie” from 2015, written by Jennifer Mathieu.

Vivian (Hadley Robinson), who’s a quiet and obedient girl, is inspired, by her mom’s (Amy Poehler) feminist past. The new girl in school, Lucy, (Alycia Pascal-Peña), who’s not afraid to say “no” to anyone, Vivian feels is crossing her line. Ultimately, this lights the fire to stand up for sexism at her school by creating a “girl power” newspaper called Moxie. 

The actors did an overall good job playing their roles, but there are a few people I would like to highlight. Robinson, who plays Vivian, does an amazing job at creating this awkward, yet strong character. Pascal-Peña who plays Lucy also plays her own strong character, standing up for herself and refusing to tolerate sexism. I also want to highlight the ones who created the screenplay, Dylan Meyer and Tamara Chestna, for creating a script that doesn’t show teens talking like adults, but actually uses teen language.

I absolutely love that a character like Seth (Nico Hiraga), Vivian’s boyfriend, is a part of this movie, because it shows that not only girls can fight sexism, but so can boys and it’s not wrong to do so. I don’t like the way Mitchell (Patrick Schwarzenegger), the school hero and bully, is portrayed, simply because it’s pretty unrealistic. I, personally, don’t know any high school students that are so mean and manipulative.

It is motivational to watch a movie like this, where the lead character is shy and quiet, and suddenly becomes this “cool” feminist who is brave enough to stand up for who she is. Moxie teaches some great lessons: that all teens don’t have to be popular, or influential, to make a difference. All anyone truly needs is a whole lot of courage.

This movie would be a good recommendation for people who like empowerment movies, or people who would like to make a difference in some way, because Moxie shows that anyone can be a force of change.

I find this to be an interesting, powerful, and easy to watch teen-movie with an understandable theme.

The MPAA rating is PG-13.