Girl In Progress (2012)

29% of critics liked it
(42 reviews)
58% of users liked it
(55,600 ratings)

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… More 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 Derbez), Ansiedad enlists the help of her loyal friend, Tavita (Raini Rodriguez), to plot her shortcut to "adulthood". But as her misguided plan unravels, Ansiedad and Grace must learn that sometimes growing-up means acting your age. -- (C) Pantelion

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Directed By: Patricia Riggen
Written By: Hiram Martinez
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: May 11, 2012 Limited
Studio: Lionsgate/Pantelion Films

Critic Reviews

William Goss, Film.com
Progress acknowledges clichés but has little interest in actually subverting them, instead growing more predictable and sentimental as it goes along.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
It never gives us a character we truly care about, or a consistent reason for watching.
Claudia Puig, USA Today
Girl in Progress seems like a work in progress.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
The direction ... doesn't do justice to the fairly novel concept of a young woman consciously constructing her own coming-of-age scenario.
Rafer Guzman, Newsday
A comedy-drama that veers between silly and serious but can't reconcile the opposing tones.
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times
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.
Karen Benardello, We Got This Covered
Girl In Progress does have potential but unfortunately it gives into the stereotypes of many female Spanish characters.
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
a pleasant surprise
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
... as amateurish as a second-rate, high-school drama club.
Brett Michel, Boston Phoenix
As rites of passage go, Girl in Progress is a step backward for the genre.
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
Contrived and cliche-filled, culminating in a predictable conclusion.
Mark Olsen, Boxoffice Magazine
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.
Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue.com
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.
Nathan Rabin, AV Club
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.
Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media
Coming-of-age story cautions against forcing adulthood.
David Noh, Film Journal International
Coming-of-age tale has a lot of appealing elements which help counteract its weaknesses.
JimmyO, JoBlo's Movie Emporium
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.
Dave White, Movies.com
What is this movie? Is it meant to be heartwarming? Funny? Satirical? Moving?
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
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.
Grae Drake, Movies.com
Even in all its movie-cuteness, Girl in Progress keeps its feet on the ground just enough to keep you watching.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Manu G

A Tale of Acting Up, Acting Out, and Acting Your Age. 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… More
A Tale of Acting Up, Acting Out, and Acting Your Age. 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.
Dannielle A

The idea of a self-aware young woman consciously staging her own coming-of-age story is a clever and novel concept and I enjoyed watching it play out. Ansiedad is the intelligent young woman who attempts to manufacture herself into adulthood by forcing herself through various… More
The idea of a self-aware young woman consciously staging her own coming-of-age story is a clever and novel concept and I enjoyed watching it play out. Ansiedad is the intelligent young woman who attempts to manufacture herself into adulthood by forcing herself through various "rites of passage" and rebelling against authority. The problem with all her screaming for attention is that we don't see the relationship between mother and daughter as volatile as it needs to be in order to set off the expedition. What I do like about the movie is the sweet, adorble, and talented Cierra Ramirez (who reminds me of a Latino Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) and her portrayal of Ansiedad. She's a likeable character and your routing for her even though she's pretty clueless about what it takes to grow up. You can't help cheering for her and cringing when she gets into scrapes. Meanwhile, Eva Mendes' character is the one who really needs to grow up. She sleeps with a married man and doesn't apologize to her daughter for her childlike behavior. It's a feel-good, moral-at-the-end movie.
Jason C

Girl In Progress takes a good cast and places them in an unoriginal story with an unoriginal script. It makes sure to cover all the standard cliches for a movie like this. The cast is so strong that they almost make it work in spite of the bad story. Eva Mendes and Cierra Ramirez… More
Girl In Progress takes a good cast and places them in an unoriginal story with an unoriginal script. It makes sure to cover all the standard cliches for a movie like this. The cast is so strong that they almost make it work in spite of the bad story. Eva Mendes and Cierra Ramirez have good chemistry as the mother and daughter struggling to make sense of their lives. Each gave very good individual performances. Cierra Ramirez did a very good job for someone having so little screen time. Matthew Modine and Patricia Arquette come out of big screen obscurity to give two good supporting performances. There's no need to spend money on Girl In Progress, but that doesn't mean fans of coming of age stories shouldn't watch it on a movie channel or regular TV when it's aired.

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Cast

Eva Mendes
as Grace
Matthew Modine
as Dr. Harford
Cierra Ramirez
as Ansiedad
Patricia Arquette
as Ms. Armstrong
Eugenio Derbez
as Mission Impossible
Raini Rodriguez
as Tavita
Russell Peters
as Emile
Landon Liboiron
as Trevor
Brenna O'Brien
as Valerie
Ana Maria Estrada
as Tavita's Mom
Kendall Cross
as Alice Harford
Dana Michael Woods
as Gilliam
Robin Douglas
as Olga
Jocelyne Loewen
as Becky
Blu Mankuma
as Principal
Rady Panov
as Ferguson
Bernadette Beck
as Shannon
Doreen Ramus
as Maude
Elizabeth McLaughlin
as Teacher
Margot Brenner
as Chloe
Colin Foo
as Lo Mein
Lesley Ewan
as Nurse
Patti Allan
as Woman
Sean Mathieson
as Boy George
June B. Wilde
as Dream Teacher
Sean Campbell
as Uniformed Officer
Sean Michael Kyer
as Harford's Son
Michael P. Northey
as Alpha Male
Lossen Chambers
as Lady Customer
Tiere Skovkye
as Jezabel
Richard Harmon
as Bay Boy
Kathryn Kirkpatrick
as Maid
Madison Desjarlais
as Girl
Mario Casoria
as Gardener
Espinoza Paz
Don Cheto

See more (36)

Girl In Progress (2012)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Manu G

Dannielle A

Jason C

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