Review of Girl in Progress (2012) by Dinesh P — 17 Oct 2012

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.