Hollywood finally nailed the coming-of-age story in 2023

In this year’s earnest and charming “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” titular preteen Margaret (“Transparent” star Abby Ryder Fortson) pleads with the divine about the vagaries of growing up, which in her case include the prospect of moving to a new town as well as her desperate wish to speed through puberty into womanhood.

In this year’s earnest and charming “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” titular preteen Margaret (“Transparent” star Abby Ryder Fortson) pleads with the divine about the vagaries of growing up, which in her case include the prospect of moving to a new town as well as her desperate wish to speed through puberty into womanhood. It’s a movie filled with small moments – finding friends at a new school, visits with grandma in the city – that add up to something much larger, tapping into a theme that kept coming up in entertainment this year: subtle, hilarious and heartfelt takes on the journey from child to adult, with all the awkwardness and jubilation that goes with it. Of course, 2023 didn’t invent the coming-of-age movie, but perhaps, it nailed it. While this 70s-set adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel could have easily veered into cheesy territory, “Margaret” remains disarming and authentic, in no small part thanks to Fortson’s performance and those (try to avoid using “as well as” so much) of Rachel McAdams, who plays her frazzled but well-meaning mother, and Kathy Bates as the overbearing grandmother. Deft and personable performances are also what ground Netflix’s take on Fiona Rosenbloom’s 2005 novel “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” which manages to skirt around some serious nepo baby favoritism to win over viewers with an insightful look at the intricate social hierarchies of middle school. Produced by and costarring Adam Sandler, “Bat Mitzvah” also stars his daughters Sadie and Sunny Sandler and even features his wife Jackie. But his daughters especially manage to make viewers forget just how much of a Sandler family affair this is, getting us invested in their onscreen family and specifically Stacy’s (Sunny Sandler) conundrum when a cute boy at school – and a massive misunderstanding – cause her to get uninvited to her BFF’s bat mitzvah. In her all-too-familiar quest to fit in socially, Stacy is faced with shifting loyalties within friend groups at school, placing the viewer right there with her and calling to mind what those moments actually felt like for us all. The same goes for the much raunchier but still clever and appealing “Bottoms” – starring the natural and winsome Rachel Sennott – which combines classic teen angst tropes with “Fight Club,” and then puts a welcome queer spin on the proceedings.