The Diary of a Teenage Girl is an objectively good movie, but may not be an enjoyable one to watch. A movie about a teenage boy trying to lose his virginity is usually played for laughs at the boy’s desperate, awkward hijinks and ends when the boy succeeds, but The Diary of a Teenage Girl begins once she succeeds and is a drama. Movies about boys’ sexuality are humorous, inconsequential and joyous. The Diary of a Teenage Girl shows that the main character, Minnie, is similarly celebratory at losing her virginity, but for the viewer, it is like watching a horror movie because it is more realistic. Will she get pregnant, STDs (it is the 70s in San Francisco before people knew about HIV, but it was being transmitted) or lose her relationship with her family forever (not because she has sex, but because of the person whom she chooses to have sex with)?
Fortunately The Diary of a Teenage Girl never becomes an after school special though it is still fraught with tension. Minnie is simply trying out different identities, and sex plays a big part of her identity. Unfortunately because she is still clearly a kid, she makes spectacularly crappy decisions without realizing the consequences beyond if it feels good, do it. Fortunately that pleasure compass keeps her out of real trouble and puts the breaks on some activities that could further endanger herself and her relationships.
She does not think about how her actions will affect others around her. The Diary of a Teenage Girl wisely does not let other characters off the hook for Minnie’s bad decisions, and somehow walks the tightrope of showing how Minnie is simultaneously in control and being exploited and neglected. She is a kid so her narcissistic and selfish behavior is something that she will hopefully grow out of whereas the adults around her don’t have that same excuse. It is no accident that Patty Hearst is a topic of conversation for all the characters, and each character’s view of Hearst says more about the character than about Hearst.
There are few scenes with Minnie and her mother, played by Kristen Wiig, but they are some of the most powerful scenes in the movie, particularly when Wiig unconditionally adores her daughter, but draws a bright line to protect herself and does not give Minnie permission to vent about everything although she forgives Minnie. Wiig manages to create a sympathetic character and not just check off the stereotypical box of bad mother even in a scene when she tries to take control in an aggressively regressive way.
When Christopher Meloni, who plays Minnie’s ex-stepfather, appears, I wondered if he had ulterior motives or genuinely wants to be paternal. The Diary of a Teenage Girl never plays it black or white, but with incredible nuance. In the end, he gives Minnie the voice that she needs to become who she is without the gendered necessity of defining her value in proportion to how a man views her.
Disclaimer: the following comments should not be viewed as condoning statutory rape because I don’t. I don’t think there is a heterosexual female in existence that wouldn’t at least consider Alexander Skarsgard who played Eric Northam in True Blood if he was an option. I’m not saying that you should go for it. I’m not saying that his character isn’t awful for sleeping with an underage girl, and that his acts aren’t spectacularly damaging. They are. His character gaslights his significant other who suspects his illegal escapades, and he knowingly continues to act recklessly with a child, which shows a lack of maturity and wisdom on his part, but I can see why Minnie would think that was a great decision especially compared with the boys who are her age who have more in common with Thumper than a gorgeous man who knows what he is doing. There are not many actors who can play pedophiles and still elicit some level of sympathy, but Alexander Skarsgard is in good company with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Visually The Diary of a Teenage Girl reflects Minnie’s comic book ambitions, and it works because it resonates with the main character even if I did not find it directly appealing as a viewer. The Diary of a Teenage Girl depicts explicit sex of minors with adults and drug use. The Diary of a Teenage Girl isn’t for everyone. The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a drama with humorous moments, but it isn’t light entertainment, and if you decide to watch it, you will probably feel a bit disturbed by the story. The Diary of a Teenage Girl successfully portrays the complexity and moral ambiguity inherent in human behavior.