Vivian is 16, lives with her mother Lisa, and attends Rockport High School. One day she joins her best friend Claudia at a class taught by Mr. Davies. Vivian notices classmate nicknamed Seth “The Shrimp” has gotten more attractive over the summer. Mr. Davies introduces new student Lucy, then begins a discussion of The Great Gatsby, a novel about a mysterious millionaire. She criticizes it as another tale of a rich white guy expressing sorrow over not having the woman he wants. The star jock Mitchell interrupts Lucy's opinion and defends the Jay Gatsby character.
Later, Vivian sees Mitchell taking the soda Lucy was trying to buy, harassing her, and spitting in it. When Lucy reports Mitchell to Principal Shelly, she doesn't want to penalize Mitchell and tries to avoid getting involved.
At home, Vivian goes through Lisa's stuff and finds her old feminist zines and becomes inspired. The next day at school, the students discover a list labeling young women made by a group of jocks shared to everyone's phone. Many girls are embarrassed by it, with most labels being sexist and/or perverse. When Mitchell calls Lucy a foul word, Vivian becomes inspired by her feminist mother and starts "Moxie", a zine aimed at calling out the unfair treatment of girls at the school, and empowering them to raise their concerns.
Vivian befriends Lucy, as well as a group of other girls who have been put down, but Claudia is reluctant to get behind the movement and it causes a rift between them. Vivian also begins a relationship with Seth, who knows she started "Moxie" and supports her.
After Mitchell wins an athletic scholarship over the girls' favorite candidate, Kiera, Vivian walks home feeling depressed, drinking a bottle of champagne along the way. She comes home to find Lisa with her boyfriend John and is annoyed that her mother kept the relationship a secret from her. Vivian then throws up.
Later, the "Moxie" girls respond to Mitchell winning the award by putting crude stickers all over the school. Principal Shelly, who was called out by "Moxie" for not supporting the girls, attempts to shut down the group. Claudia, who eventually joins the group, takes the fall for the stickers.
Vivian then hits a low point when Claudia criticizes her for not coming forward (she knew Vivian started "Moxie"), while also having a rough patch with Seth. She then faces challenges with her mom when Seth comes over for dinner with John, Lisa, and Vivian and she creates a scene. When her mom confronts her about it, she confesses that she started Moxie and expresses her grief over her late father.
Vivian finds a note from an anonymous girl who says she was raped the previous year. Vivian gets "Moxie" supporters to stage a walkout in support of the girl. The majority of students participate, and Vivian reveals that she started "Moxie".
Head cheerleader Emma comes forward as the rape survivor, stating that Mitchell, her ex-boyfriend, was her rapist. It happened the previous year when they were dating, and they called her "Most Bangable", which left her mortified. All the students are horrified and lend their support. Principal Shelly overhears and plans to punish Mitchell at last.
Vivian reconciles with her mom, Claudia, and Seth, and "Moxie" gains more followers. Lisa expresses pride in her daughter and the girls throw a party in celebration of "Moxie".
The film was released on March 3, 2021, on Netflix.[8]
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Moxie comes up a little short on its titular ingredient when it comes to fully addressing its story's timely themes, but this sweet coming-of-age story is still easy to like."[9] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10]
Rasha Jameel, writing in The Daily Star, accused the film of tokenism. Criticizing its "careless" insertion of the "white savior" trope, Jameel wrote, "the film adds characters of colour and a white character with disability, but instead of allowing these characters to speak or act on their behalf, the narrative is told primarily through the all-too-common perspective of a privileged white American."[11]
