Girl in Progress (2012)

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Some films are beautifully understated in their power and presence and resonate with audiences for years to come, then, there are films like Girl in Progress. The 2012 film by Patricia Riggen was completely contrived in its use of clichés, even though the point of the film was supposed to be to poke holes in clichés. Eva Mendes & Patricia Arquette join with Cierra Ramirez to expose the lengths a child will go to escape a disinterested parent and speed their own maturity and growth. Mother/daughter relationships aren't always the seamless pinnacle of female bonding and connection that we often imagine, as Girl in Progress painfully proves.Grace (Eva Mendes) stars as a self-absorbed spoiled single mother who had a child when she was still very young herself and refused to put her child first until she almost lost her. Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) is a young girl who is dragged around from city to city on her mother's whim unable to settle down and root herself in any one place. To make matters worse, Ansiedad, a full-time high school student is also the sole caretaker of the home she shares with her mother. The cook, the maid, and her mother's personal assistant, Ansiedad is often left to her own devices at nights when her mother leaves to pursue her many male suitors. One day, in English class, Ansiedad is inspired to write her own coming-of-age story. She writes a fool-proof plan that will result in her inevitable maturity and enough life resources to leave her absent mother. Her only ally, her English teacher Ms. Armstrong (Patricia Arquette) attempts to help her along the way, as much as a teacher can and eventually reaches the child to help her realize that experiencing a series of events in a prescribed order will not automatically bring about maturity. Along this journey, when she finds the time, Grace attempts to repair the damage done to her and her daughter's relationship.This film had a very Lifetime network feel to it, taking an hour and a half to illustrate the very obvious points that you cannot plan out your life, and no one really knows that they're doing while on earth. Taking so much time to demean the use of clichés while simultaneously using them was a filmmaking decision that fell flat. Skip this journey of mother/daughter bonding, you're not missing anything.

Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) is tired of her irresponsible mother Grace (Eva Mendes) especially her affair with the married Dr. Harford (Matthew Modine). Her only friend at school is Tavita (Raini Rodriguez). After a lesson from English teacher Ms. Armstrong (Patricia Arquette), she decides to perform her version of rites of passage. She befriends bad girl Valerie (Brenna O'Brien) and dumps Tavita. Her ultimate goal is to lose her virginity to bad boy Trevor (Landon Liboiron) and run away to NYC. Grace's boss Emile (Russell Peters) is looking to cook at the Crab Fest competition but he's reluctant to leave her in charge of his restaurant.The concept is interesting. It kind of reminds of 'The To Do List' except Ramirez is a real teen. I expected this to be a comedy but then it takes jarring turns into dark drama. The production by Mexican director Patricia Riggen is TV level with some good actors. Patricia Arquette showing up surprised me a little. I like the characters in this movie but I couldn't get a handle on its tone. It seems to be a light kid's movie at first but then it throws some very adult situations.

Girl in Progress is a film feature that stars Eva Mendes and Cierra Ramirez together with Matthew Modine and Patricia Arquette.It is about the coming-of-age into maturity of a young woman who is taught interestingly by her teen-age daughter.Patricia Riggen directs.Grace is an immature single mom who is consumed by her occupation to pay the bills and to provide for her daughter,Ansiedad as well as her affair with a married man in the person of Dr.Hartford.But when Ansiedad's English teacher, Ms. Armstrong introduces her students to classic coming-of-age stories, Ansiedad is inspired to skip adolescence and jump-start her life to rebel against her mother due to the lack of attention she receives from her. She enlists the help of her loyal friend, Tavita to plot her shortcut to become an adult immediately.She designs a flow chart to remind her to indulge in a wide range of bad behavior such as drinking, stealing, failing tests, losing her virginity in a one-night stand and cruelly taunting her best friend.Her ultimate goal becomes to run away from home and move to New York on her own.But later,Ms.Armstrong takes her to the Principal's Office wherein Grace meets her daughter.After an argument,we get to see Ansiedad once again goes back and act as a teen-ager once again and Grace decides to change for the better for her daughter's sake.Although the film has an interesting premise,it was definitely contrived and does go far away from clichés.Aside from that,it does not give us any reason to care for the characters from they are far from being heartwarming.It could have been a better film if it wasn't implausible and if the story has never been used over and over again.Added to that,we also get limited humor and it fails to elicit laughter from most of its comedic scenes.The only positives in the film is Mendes' likability as Grace and Ramirez's portrayal of Ansiedad.

For those who remember Cher and Winona Ryder in Mermaids and liked it, this is an updated Hispanic irresponsible mother and cry for help daughter comedy. There are some laugh out loud moments. The drama and comedy don't blend that smoothly as hoped but overall it's a cute story.The performances are good. Eva is funny and touching. She is a great comedienne and very convincing in the more serious moments. It's nice to see her in a real latina role speaking Spanish. She is believable showing blue collar struggles - much more than Jennifer Lopez.Strange casting of Matthew Modine as the married cad who romances Eva's character. He is usually the good guy so it's a bit strange to see him in the role.Overall it isn't has polished as Mermaids but it's worth a watch.