Girl in Progress

Last updated

Girl in Progress
Girl in Progress.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Patricia Riggen
Written byHiram Martinez
Produced by Benjamin Odell
John Fiedler
Starring Eva Mendes
Matthew Modine
Cierra Ramirez
Patricia Arquette
Eugenio Derbez
CinematographyChecco Varese
Edited byDan Schalk
Music by Christopher Lennertz
Production
company
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release date
  • May 11, 2012 (2012-05-11)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Box office$3,125,320 [1]

Girl in Progress is a 2012 American drama film directed by Patricia Riggen, written by Hiram Martinez, and starring Eva Mendes, Matthew Modine, Patricia Arquette, Eugenio Derbez, and introducing Cierra Ramirez in her film debut as Ansiedad Gutierrez. It tells the story of a 14-year-old girl living with a busy mother who ends up acting like a grown-up and going through different tasks on her personal list. The film received a limited release on May 11, 2012. The film received the Favorite Movie Award at the 2012 ALMA Awards, which honors the accomplishments made by Hispanics in film, television, and music. Cierra Ramirez won the Favorite Movie Actress Supporting Role Award. [2]

Contents

Plot

Grace Gutierrez is a single mom raising her teenage daughter Ansiedad. Grace is busy juggling work, bills, and her relationship with the married Dr. Harford, leaving Ansiedad to take care of herself as well as her mother most of the time.

When Ansiedad's English teacher Ms. Armstrong inspires her with coming-of-age lessons, Ansiedad decides it's time to rebel and grow up quickly so she will finally be mature enough to move out. She creates a list of tasks she must complete to reach her big goal: run away to New York.

Her first task is to remind everyone that she is a good girl – she signs up for her school's chess team and wins a match, and goes to a nursing home and regularly visits an old woman who Ansiedad names 'Maud'.

Next, Ansiedad must befriend the most popular girl in school namd Valerie. After much humiliation and bribery, Ansiedad successfully completes this task, but is forced to betray her best friend Tavita to make this happen, calling her fat and useless. Tavita begins to cry from Ansiedad's harsh comments and runs off to her boyfriend Ferguson. Ansiedad witnesses Ferguson harshly breaking up with Tavita, telling her that what they do in his basement will never mean they will be together. After Ferguson storms away, a crying Tavita tells Ansiedad that she was never there for her and that she hates her.

Ansiedad moves onto her next tasks, requiring her to have her first kiss and lose her virginity. For these tasks, she targets one of the most popular boys in school, the so-called womanizer Trevor. She confirms that he'll be at a particular party that night, then asks him to take her virginity there. He agrees, and they kiss awkwardly. Ansiedad checks "first kiss" off her list, disappointing Trevor, who thought that she might have liked him. At the party, Trevor takes Ansiedad to an upstairs bedroom, much to Valerie's anger. Locking the door, Trevor tells Ansiedad that he thinks she's pretty, but she tells him off for being nice to her. Trevor then tells Ansiedad that he only acts as a womanizer to bug his dad, but Ansiedad tells him she doesn't care. As she strips down and gets into bed, Ansiedad realizes how scared she is, changing her mind when a naked Trevor emerges from the bathroom. She quickly dresses and runs out where Valerie stops her and calls her a slut. The party guests refuse to believe Ansiedad's protests that she and Trevor didn't have sex which is made worse when Trevor yells out that they did. Ansiedad runs home, crying out for her mother, who is not home. She trashes the house in anger and cries until the next morning.

Grace had fallen asleep at the house of her co-worker Mission Impossible who is in love with Grace. She wakes in the morning to find Mission gone. She hurries to work and finds that someone has robbed the family-owned business' money, which means they will be closing down. Grace finds Mission in the back of the restaurant and he tells her he stole the money so Grace could pay Ansiedad's tuition. Grace tells him what an idiot he is and he promises to return the money.

When Grace visits Ms. Armstrong about Ansiedad, she learns what she has been doing and Ms. Armstrong reprimands Grace for her negligence. Ansiedad has boarded a bus to New York only to be stopped by her mother. Ansiedad and Grace argue, but Grace stops Ansiedad by saying "I don't want what happened to your friend to happen to you". Ansiedad asks what happened and Grace says that Tavita took weight pills and almost died. Ansiedad and Grace hug each other and wait at Tavita's house to see how she's doing.

Ms. Armstrong gives Ansiedad's class their last assignment for the year: write a conclusion about coming of age stories. A series of shots show that Mission returns the money, Ansiedad starts to dress and act like a normal 14-year-old, and Grace watches Ansiedad play chess and embarrasses her with enthusiastic cheering even though Ansiedad's smile shows she is happy that Grace is there.

Ansiedad apologizes to Tavita who hugs her. When Tavita asks her if she wants to hang out, but Ansiedad smiles and says that her mom is waiting for her. Grace and Ansiedad then board a city bus home.

Cast

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating 33% based on reviews from 46 critics. The website's consensus stating: "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 cliches." [3] On Metacritic it has a score of 45 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [4]

Awards

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
2012 Imagen Foundation Awards Best Supporting Actress/Feature Film Cierra Ramirez Won
ALMA Awards Favorite MovieWon
Favorite Movie Actress-Supporting RoleCierra RamirezWon
2013 Premios Juventud Favorite FlickWon

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Modine</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1959)

Matthew Avery Modine is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in Full Metal Jacket. His other film roles include the title character in Birdy, the high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, FBI agent Mike Downey in Married to the Mob, Joe Slovak in Gross Anatomy, William Shaw in Cutthroat Island, Drake Goodman in Pacific Heights, Peter Foley in The Dark Knight Rises, and Dr. Ralph Wyman in Short Cuts. On television, Modine portrays the villainous Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix's Stranger Things, the oversexed Sullivan Groff on Weeds, Dr. Don Francis in And the Band Played On and Ivan Turing in Proof.

<i>Just Cause</i> (film) 1995 American film

Just Cause is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name.

<i>A Woman</i> (1915 film) 1915 film by Charlie Chaplin

A Woman was Charlie Chaplin's ninth film for Essanay Films. It was made in Los Angeles at the Majestic Studio and released in 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugenio Derbez</span> Mexican actor (born 1961)

Eugenio González Derbez is a Mexican actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films and television series including The Book of Life, The Angry Birds Movie 2, and in the Oscar-winning film CODA.

<i>Private School</i> (film) 1983 film by Noel Black

Private School is a 1983 American teen sex comedy film, directed by Noel Black. Starring Phoebe Cates, Betsy Russell, and Matthew Modine, it follows a teenaged couple attempting to have sex for the first time, while their friends engage in sexually minded practical jokes.

<i>Casanova Brown</i> 1944 film by Sam Wood

Casanova Brown is a 1944 American comedy romantic film directed by Sam Wood, written by Nunnally Johnson, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Frank Morgan. The film had its world premiere in western France after the Allies had liberated those territories following the D-Day Invasion. The film is based on the 1927 novel An Unmarried Father by Floyd Dell and the 1928 play Little Accident by Dell and Thomas Mitchell, which had been previously filmed by Universal Pictures in 1930 as The Little Accident and in 1939 as Little Accident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cierra Ramirez</span> American actress and singer (born 1995)

Cierra Alexa Ramirez is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Mariana Adams Foster in the Freeform television series The Fosters and reprising her role in the spin-off series Good Trouble, which she also co-executive produced with co-star Maia Mitchell. Her accolades include an ALMA Award, an Imagen Foundation Award and a GLAAD Media Award nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Ferguson</span> Swedish actress (born 1983)

Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström is a Swedish actress. She began her acting career with the Swedish soap opera Nya tider (1999–2000) and went on to star in the slasher film Drowning Ghost (2004). She came to international prominence with her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville in the British television miniseries The White Queen (2013), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.

<i>100 Days to Heaven</i> Filipino TV series or program

100 Days to Heaven is a 2011 Philippine fantasy comedy drama television series directed by Malu L. Sevilla, Jojo A. Saguin, and Don M. Cuaresma. The series stars Coney Reyes and Xyriel Manabat as Anna Manalastas, and Jodi Sta. Maria as Sophia Delgado and Trisha Manalastas, with an ensemble cast consisting of Joel Torre, Dominic Ochoa, Smokey Manaloto, Valerie Concepcion, Rafael Rosell, Jewel Mische, Emmanuelle Vera, Neil Coleta, Louise Abuel, Rustica Carpio, and Noel Trinidad in their supporting roles. The series premiered on ABS-CBN's Primetime Bida evening block and worldwide on TFC from May 9 to November 18, 2011 replacing Mutya and being replaced by Ikaw ay Pag-Ibig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rady Panov</span> Bulgarian Canadian actor (born 1993)

Radoslav Serafimov Panov is a Bulgarian Canadian actor best known for his role as Ferguson in the movie Girl in Progress. Panov has also appeared as Derek in the Lifetime movie Girl Fight.

Pobre señorita Limantour is a Mexican telenovela broadcast on El Canal de las Estrellas in 1987. Was starring Víctor Cámara in his debut in Mexican telenovelas, Ofelia Cano in her only starring in soap operas and Manuel Saval and Úrsula Prats in antagonistics. It also marked the debut of Thalía in Mexican telenovelas. It is based on the soap opera "Regina Carbonell" Inés Rodena original.

Claudia Myers is an American screenwriter, director and producer. In addition, she is an Associate Professor of Film and Media at American University's School of Communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Black</span> UK soap opera character, created 2013

Grace Black is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Tamara Wall. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 8 November 2013. Wall had three auditions for the role on the show's set in Liverpool. The character is introduced as the sister of Clare Devine, who had been killed off in earlier episodes. Grace arrives to investigate her death and get reacquainted with her estranged father Fraser Black.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Modine</span> American actress, dancer and singer

Ruby Wylder Rivera Modine is an American actress, dancer and singer. She is best known for playing Sierra Morton in Shameless, and co-starring in the 2017 slasher film Happy Death Day and its sequel as Lori Spengler. She is the lead singer of the band Ruby Modine and the Disease.

<i>Dora and the Lost City of Gold</i> 2019 film directed by James Bobin

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a 2019 American adventure comedy film directed by James Bobin. It is a live-action adaptation of the Nick Jr. animated television series Dora the Explorer as well as the Nickelodeon animated series Dora and Friends. The film stars Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, with Danny Trejo as the voice of Boots. The titular Lost City of Gold is based on the legendary Inca city, Paititi. Dora and the Lost City of Gold was produced by Paramount Players and Nickelodeon Movies in association with Walden Media, MRC and Burr! Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Overboard</i> (2018 film) Film by Rob Greenberg

Overboard is a 2018 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Greenberg, who wrote the screenplay with Bob Fisher and Leslie Dixon. A characteristically-reversed remake of the original 1987 film, the film stars Eugenio Derbez, Anna Faris, Eva Longoria and John Hannah. It follows a struggling, working-class single mother who convinces a rich playboy with amnesia that they are married.

<i>Top End Wedding</i> 2019 Australian film

Top End Wedding is a 2019 Australian romantic comedy film directed by Wayne Blair, starring Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee. Tapsell also co-wrote the film and served as the executive producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Skobeleva</span> Filmmaker

Maria Skobeleva is a filmmaker.

<i>A Babysitters Guide to Monster Hunting</i> American comedy horror film

A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting is a 2020 American dark fantasy comedy film directed by Rachel Talalay and distributed by Netflix. The film was written by Joe Ballarini and is based on his book trilogy of the same name. It stars Tom Felton, Indya Moore, Tamara Smart and Oona Laurence.

References

  1. "Girl in Progress (2012)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  2. "ALMA Awards 2012: Winners And Show Highlights (VIDEO, PHOTOS)". Latino Voices. HuffPost . September 21, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  3. "Girl in Progress (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  4. "Girl in Progress". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved July 23, 2021.