Getting it wrong in a trite of passage

Published Aug 10, 2012

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GIRL IN PROGRESS

DIRECTOR: Patricia Riggen

CAST: Eva Mendes, Matthew Modine, Cierra Ramirez, Raini Rodriguez, Patricia Arquette

CLASSIFICATION: 13S

RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes

RATING: **

The strong, sexy presence of Eva Mendes and the girlish perkiness of Cierra Ramirez can only go so far to make the forced mother-daughter dramedy Girl in Progress tolerable.

It’s a coming-of-age story that knows it’s a coming-of-age story – as in, our young heroine is well aware of the conventions of this kind of tale and goes out of her way to manufacture various rites of passage to expedite her trans- formation from innocence to womanhood.

Ramirez’s character, the teenage Ansiedad, literally creates a flow chart in her bedroom and spells out her strategy with her only friend (the sweetly nerdy Raini Rodriguez) – whom she’ll soon cast aside, she declares, because it’s a necessary step in the process.

Breaking down and sending up a specific genre is fine if the script is strong enough to get away with such cutesy self-reference, as in Juno and Easy A. Director Patricia Riggen and screenwriter Hiram Martinez don’t go far enough and don’t dig deep enough with these characters though.

They play it too safe, which makes Girl in Progress feel like a slightly racier version of an ABC Family show – and the flat, overly bright lighting further makes it feel like forgettable television.

It certainly doesn’t help that the two main figures are cliches. Mendes’ Grace is the child in the equation, having given birth when she was just 17 and hopping from man to man and town to town ever since.

Ansiedad, which means anxiety in Spanish, is the res- ponsible one: smart, studious and organised, she’s left to scrub the sink full of dishes while her mom’s out with her married gynaecologist boyfriend (Modine, whose character doesn’t have a single perceptible redeeming quality).

Do you think it’s possible that, by the end, they’ll both have learned some lessons and assumed their rightful roles?

Riggen cuts awkwardly and sometimes too quickly between potentially poignant moments and scenes of wacky humour, which undermines her attempts at emotional honesty.

Meanwhile, supporting characters who were intended to provide depth merely feel like types – Modine’s cold, controlling wife or the kind-hearted Mexican immigrant who works alongside Grace at a restaurant.

And in a painfully literal device, Ansiedad’s English teacher (Arquette) just happens to be explaining the steps in a coming-of-age story as Ansiedad embarks on them.

It’s maddening: Girl in Progress knows that every teen movie has to have a blow-out bash where important events take place, and it can’t even get the tone of that right.

This is being marketed as an ideal film for moms and daughters to see together. A long, awkward brunch sounds more fun – and more truthful. – AP

If you liked... Young Adult or The Perfect Family… you will like this.

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