Steineded How sad is this?

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

phd_travel 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.

napierslogs Coming-of-age films are a dime-a-dozen and, surprisingly, good coming- of-age films are also a dime-a-dozen – providing they have the right hook and the right leading teenager. That's exactly why "Girl in Progress" can neatly fit itself in-line with other memorable and good, but not great, teenage girl films. Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) is a snarky teenager, fed up with her immature mother (for good reason) and rebels at home and at school because she's got nothing better to do.The single mother, Grace (Eva Mendes), goes from one married man to another, to a new town, and from same old waitressing and maid jobs to another. Mendes isn't great but then again her character is as selfish, immature, self-absorbed and superficial as one can get. The daughter, Ansiedad, has been described as mean, manipulative and stupid, just like how angst-ridden teenagers can be. It worked here, since in the beginning at least, her many negative attributes were presented humorously, and given her age she isn't supposed to be as mature or responsible as her mother.The hook, though, is what really elevates "Girl in Progress" to "good". In school, Ansiedad's teacher (Patricia Arquette) is educating the students on coming-of-age stories. Where, through a series of events, teenagers essentially become adults. This is exactly what Ansiedad wants, and she is fairly perceptive, so she is able to write out the various situations that the teenagers in all the stories experience in order to become adults. A manual for coming-of-age stories explained in a coming-of-age film.Ansiedad follows it to the letter, even shortening her name to Anne, but of course, the maturation process is not something that can be mapped out. The tone of the film becomes uneven when we switch from humorous to sentimental when Anne becomes frustrated when she is not yet an adult. But that's the type of frustration that audiences should relate to rather than just getting annoyed by.Grace's married man of the month is Dr. Harford (Matthew Modine). He is of course sly, unscrupulous and dishonest but the writing of the character and Modine made him worth your time. Dr. Harford is also smart, smarter than Grace, and he allows for both an unlikable character to remain unlikable and to have an unlikable character as the catalyst for change. The supporting characters, like him, and the hook make "Girl in Progress" both likable and smart. Relatively, speaking.

Steve Pulaski Girl in Progress revolves around Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez), a young adolescent with a mother too busy juggling two jobs and dozens of relationships to give her attention. One day at school, young Ansiedad - who goes by Ann, most of the time - learns about "coming of age" stories from her teacher. She becomes instantly inspired, researching anything and everything about them, and finally memorizes the formula well enough to make an attempt to have her life follow the basic route of one of those stories. She posts all the clichés like "excel at something geeky," "become the bad girl," and "dump best friend," who in this case happens to be the overweight Tavita (Raini Rodriguez).Ann's mother is Eva Mendez's Grace, a very conceded, uninvolved woman of many low qualities. She got pregnant at seventeen, was kicked out of the house by her strict mother, never got married, and spends time dating numerous men. She is mostly absent while Ann embarks on this conquest, only turning up to vaguely question her daughter's recent behavior, before going back to doing what she was originally doing. But hey, this is a coming of age story, so I guess it's just following the rules. Right? Grace is also dating a married gynecologist (Matthew Modine), spending more time with him than her daughter, so I guess maybe it's best that Ann seek out other people to influence her besides her mother.We've all seen this idea before. The only difference is we've seen it with more heart, energy, and self-awareness than this film has to offer. There are films like Easy A and Juno, that inject themselves with witticisms and insight into the teenage life, never mocking it or festering in clichés, but satirizing the clichés commonly utilized in modern-day coming of age stories. Then, there are those rare and unpleasant experiences like Girl in Progress that simplify the core story here; the complex relationship between the mother and the daughter. We see the daughter spend the entire movie going through this tireless phase of rebellion and we see her desperately try to win back her mother's attention away from her countless number of boyfriends.The picture's main flaw is it lacks a single compelling character that we feel for and want to watch for more than just a few minutes. Ann is a spoiled brat who often goes undisciplined (and I simply can not forgive her for being an adolescent and being hormonal - maybe if she packed more of an urgency than just, "I want my mom to notice me" perhaps I could've), Grace is the kind of mother I'm blessed to not have, and her boyfriend is faceless and unimportant in every way.This is what you call "a big screen sitcom." Instead of making a film centered truly depicting the lives of teenagers with interesting, redeemable qualities, the filmmakers of Girl in Progress seem to believe it would be more fun to make a film centered around depressingly bland teenage conventions set not for the big screen but more for a Television movie network. The first act is instantaneously stale, the second doesn't fair much better, and the third act concludes with a mechanical exit that feels over-plotted and under-executed. Perhaps if we had a character that was at least in some aspects likable, this wouldn't have happened.NOTE: Girl in Progress was released on Mother's Day weekend and was marketed as a film for mothers and their daughters to see. I can only imagine the awkward, unprecedented bleakness such a well-meaning move probably played out. There are better films that tackle the same struggle of adolescent confusion. I'd start with Catherine Hardwicke's Thirteen and go from there.Starring: Eva Mendes, Cierra Ramirez, Matthew Modine, Patricia Arquette, Eugenio Derbez, and Rani Rodriguez. Directed by: Patricia Riggen.

darkness_visible 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.