Girl In Progress (2012)
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 30
Despite a well-intentioned and novel premise, Girl in Progress is plagued by jarring tonal shifts and does little to break its characters out of cliché.
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 14
Despite a well-intentioned and novel premise, Girl in Progress is plagued by jarring tonal shifts and does little to break its characters out of cliché.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 55,600
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Movie Info
Grace (Mendes) is a single mom. She is too busy juggling work, bills, and the very married Dr. Hartford (Matthew Modine), to give her daughter, Ansiedad (Ramirez) the attention she desperately needs. When Ansiedad's English teacher, Ms. Armstrong (Patricia Arquette), introduces her students to classic coming-of-age stories, Ansiedad is inspired to skip adolescence and jump-start her life without mom. While Grace becomes preoccupied with the increasing affections of her co-worker (Eugenio
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Cast
-
Eva Mendes
Grace -
Matthew Modine
Dr. Harford -
Cierra Ramirez
Ansiedad -
Patricia Arquette
Ms. Armstrong -
Eugenio Derbez
Mission Impossible -
Raini Rodriguez
Tavita -
Russell Peters
Emile -
Landon Liboiron
Trevor -
Brenna O'Brien
Valerie -
Ana Maria Estrada
Tavita's Mom -
Kendall Cross
Alice Harford -
Dana Michael Woods
Gilliam -
Robin Douglas
Olga -
Jocelyne Loewen
Becky -
Blu Mankuma
Principal -
Rady Panov
Ferguson -
Bernadette Beck
Shannon -
Doreen Ramus
Maude -
Elizabeth McLaughlin
Teacher -
Margot Brenner
Chloe -
Colin Foo
Lo Mein -
Lesley Ewan
Nurse -
Patti Allan
Woman -
Sean Mathieson
Boy George -
June B. Wilde
Dream Teacher -
Sean Campbell
Uniformed Officer -
Sean Michael Kyer
Harford's Son -
Michael P. Northey
Alpha Male -
Lossen Chambers
Lady Customer -
Tiere Skovkye
Jezabel -
Richard Harmon
Bay Boy -
Kathryn Kirkpatrick
Maid -
Madison Desjarlais
Girl -
Mario Casoria
Gardener -
-
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Girl In Progress Trailer & Photos
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (30)
Progress acknowledges clichés but has little interest in actually subverting them, instead growing more predictable and sentimental as it goes along.
Top CriticIt never gives us a character we truly care about, or a consistent reason for watching.
Girl in Progress seems like a work in progress.
The direction ... doesn't do justice to the fairly novel concept of a young woman consciously constructing her own coming-of-age scenario.
A comedy-drama that veers between silly and serious but can't reconcile the opposing tones.
Smart girls do stupid things, there's no doubt about it. But Ansiedad's bad behavior is supposed to be both faux and earnest, a premise that doesn't jell.
Girl In Progress does have potential but unfortunately it gives into the stereotypes of many female Spanish characters.
a pleasant surprise
... as amateurish as a second-rate, high-school drama club.
As rites of passage go, Girl in Progress is a step backward for the genre.
Contrived and cliche-filled, culminating in a predictable conclusion.
Less a misfire than a missed opportunity, Girl In Progress squanders its time in high school, neglecting the mother-daughter story that forms its more interesting core.
Any attempt to provide insight into various real-life issues, such as teenage rebellion or the perils of single motherhood, is compromised by the film's predicable reliance on feel-good sentimentality.
It wants audiences to know it's in on the joke though it's not always apparent that there even is a joke in the first place.
Coming-of-age story cautions against forcing adulthood.
Coming-of-age tale has a lot of appealing elements which help counteract its weaknesses.
While Girl In Progress isn't a bad film, it just isn't good enough to really say anything all that meaningful about the task of becoming an adult in a challenging world.
What is this movie? Is it meant to be heartwarming? Funny? Satirical? Moving?
Girl in Progress is an old story about a young girl told in a smart way, and that's something you don't see every day, no matter how many times you think you've seen it before.
Even in all its movie-cuteness, Girl in Progress keeps its feet on the ground just enough to keep you watching.
Audience Reviews for Girl In Progress
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Ansiedad: My mother never finished high school. She was seventeen when I ruined the party.
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- Grace: She likes to embellish!
- Ansiedad: She just learned that word on TV.
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Good 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.
As single mom Grace juggles work, bills, and her affair with a married doctor, her daughter, Ansiedad, plots a shortcut to adulthood after finding inspiration in the coming-of-age stories she's reading for school.