'Yes, God, Yes' film review: Sweet, honest take on a teen's struggle with horniness & religion
Anchored by a remarkable lead performance and confident storytelling, the dramatic comedy 'Yes, God, Yes' (now available on digital and VOD) is an indie gem that proves sexual self-exploration can be heartfelt and innocent.
In short: Well-behaved Catholic teen Alice (Natalia Dyer) discovers masturbation during an AOL chat. Hoping to suppress her newfound urges, she goes to a mysterious church retreat.
"Yes, God" absolutely defines its tone and tenor within its opening moments: wherein a passage from the Book of Revelations reaffirming that immortality absolutely leads to eternal damnation ... is followed up by an Urban Dictionary-ish definition of "tossed salad." This satirization of dogma focuses on the fundamental hypocrisies and rigid expectations that determine what it means to be a "good" girl.
Writer-director Karen Maine's first feature-length film is wholly nonjudgmental of a young woman's sexual awakening that opens her eyes to self pleasure, and the glaring double-standards all around her. Alice is a young woman beleaguered with the ever-present threat of fire and brimstone lest she entertain any impure thoughts or her school uniform show too much skin. But the film's most refreshing choice is letting Alice just be a totally normal and completely relatable teenage student. She's curious, desperate to fit in and apt to make some misguided choices. Her innocence doesn't inoculate her from some rash decisions - which, in turn, just makes Alice all the more accessible.
Dyer is perfectly cast as the conflicted teen struggling to reconcile her "sinful" inner thoughts with the rigid social norms constantly telling Alice that her thoughts are immoral and evil. Watching Dyer internally wrestle with the expectations foisted upon her by friends, family and dogma is the heart and soul of "Yes, God." Dyer (who also starred in the 2017 short film of the same name) finds the precise humanity of a teen girl who would otherwise be considered a virtuous role model were it not for her faith (the basis for her home and school life), which condemns her for her sexual awakening.
The movie that comes to mind while watching "Yes, God" - oddly enough - is the 1999 raunch fest "American Pie." Throughout "Yes, God" Alice is made to feel less than and morally condemned for her sexual urges. Alice - who spends her time playing on her calculator and word scramble games - is relegated as a harlot simply because her fellow students keep spreading a vicious rumor. Meanwhile the protagonist of "Pie" has sex with a pie and suffers no social ridicule despite covertly broadcasting video of an unsuspecting girl undressing. ‘Yes, God’ frankly takes on this inherent hypocrisy, wherein boys can freely explore their sexuality - but young women are punished for failing to remain pure and chaste.
‘Yes, God' is precisely rooted in a Catholic school and told from the perspective of a teenage girl living in the early 2000s - yet, despite this specificity, the comedy is painfully and wonderfully relatable. So much of Dyer's strong performance is defined by low-key, nuanced and fleeting glances and grimaces as Alice navigates religion and masturbation. But its in these small, quiet moments that anyone who has awkwardly stumbled through high school absolutely relates to the never-ending cringe fest of embarrassment that is the teenage years.
Final verdict: "Yes, God" is a refreshingly empathetic, transformative coming-of-age comedy told with a genuine voice that celebrates and advocates personal honesty.
Score: 4/5
'Yes, God, Yes' is available as a digital VOD rental starting July 28. This comedy is rated R for sexual content and some nudity and has a running time of 78 minutes.
