So much of my life is spent watching shitty movies that sometimes I forget that really really great movies exist. Even if those really great movies are made for teenagers.

I’ve been seeing Moxie all over my FYP on Tik Tok, and several people have told me to give it a watch, never in a million years did I expect to like it so much.

Written by Tamara Chestna and directed by Amy Poehler Moxie tells the story of a group of high school girls who have recently realized how much they fucking hate the way they’re treated by not only the male population of the school, but the administration and teachers as well. They discover an anonymously written zine in the girls bathroom with what I can only describe as feminist think pieces written in it.

The girls deal with dress code violations, their sports not being taken seriously, and the overarching shittiness that is the patriarchy. They fight back against their wildly annoying principal, and the school’s hot shot jock who, in reality, is a fucking creep. If you’re a woman or girl, you know these stories. You know the annoyance of being asked to change your tank top, you know the football jocks get whatever they fucking wanted, you know administration doesn’t give a damn.

While this movie was created with a teenage audience in mind, I found myself so enthralled in the stories and the characters. Knowing exactly how shitty the world is to teenage girls, I wanted these characters to succeed so badly. I wanted everything to end up right for them.

While the female characters in this movie, nay, FILM, are fucking incredible and I would die for them. Nico Hiraga’s character is officially the new standard. Nico’s character, Seth, is on the outside, a normal teenage boy. But in comparison to the othe featured boys, he is nice, smart, respectful, and so incredibly sweet. He shows support for Moxie and Vivian on several occasions, and is a wonderful contrast to the absolute shit show trash that are the antagonist. I wish more boys were like this. I wish I wasn’t so shocked and pleased with this character. But the reality of the issue is, men stick together, for better or for worse. They’re not taught how to act properly, while girls are taught how to react properly. I think this movie does a beautiful job of showing that boys and men don’t have to do much to be feminist allies. They can exist and be manly and normal, all while making their female counterparts feel safe.

Amy Poehler is no doubt a fucking powerhouse. We’ve loved her for years, but this movie just made me love her even more. I love her character as Vivian’s mom, especially in a scene where she explains to Vivian how the feminism she participated in as a teenager wasn’t the best. She reflects on her past and understands that while they had the right ideas, they needed to work on themselves as well. Which, is something a lot of adult women, adult white women especially, need to recognize in themselves. Feminism isn’t just for white women. It’s for all women. Including transgender and non-white women. The movie touches on each of these topics briefly, but powerfully.

My favorite part of the movie was that it focused on the microaggressions women face from misogyny. There are mentions of rape, and a girl at the school comes out as a rape survivor, but it is not the focus of the movie. While sexual assault and sexual violence is a HUGE issue for women, I think a lot of men think of it as the entire issue. Rape isn’t a black and white issue, there are shades of grey that men don’t often see. There are so many, seemingly smaller, but still incredibly important issues with misogyny that this movie puts an emphasis on.

TLDR: Moxie is a fantastic feminist, badass, fucking movie. Watch it. Fall in love with Nico Hiraga. The End.