Coming-of-age movies about girls are rare. Perhaps this is one of the reasons “Lady Bird” has received so much attention.
Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is a 17-year-old student in a Catholic High School. She is a virgin which accentuates her teen-ager angsts. She calls herself “Lady Bird” to spite her parents who named her in honor of The Savior. Most of all she is a rebel who partially dies her hair red as her banner.
Christine toys with weed and sex, but is still bored. Ronan plays this role to the hilt. Her mother tries to keep her daughter’s path straight and narrow. She works two jobs to supplant her husband’s loss of his job.
For me, I could not wait to see Lady Bird grow up.
On the plus side, Rotten Tomatoes gave “Lady Bird” its highest endorsement without a single negative vote. Ronan has won this year’s Golden Globe Award for Best Actress as Lady Bird. You may remember her in the lead of last year’s movie “Brooklyn.”
With a push from ‘Tomatoes’ an Oscar Nomination will be a certainty.
“Lady Bird” is currently showing at the Rialto Theater in The Villages. Be prepared to be annoyed that this teenager seems to always get her way.
Jack Petro reviews movies for Villages-News.com