SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
Vivian (Hadley Robinson), a seemingly shy 16-year-old, has always preferred to keep her head down and fly under the radar. But when the arrival of a new student (Alycia Pascual-Peña) forces her to examine the unchecked behavior of her fellow students running rampant at her high school, Vivian realizes she’s fed up. Inspired by her mother’s (Amy Poehler) rebellious past, Vivian anonymously publishes an underground zine called Moxie to expose bias and wrongdoing in her high school, and unexpectedly sparks a movement. Now at the center of a revolution, Vivian begins to forge new friendships with other young women and allies, reaching across the divide of cliques and clubs as they learn to navigate the highs and lows of high school together.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Moxie Plot Summary and Synopsis
Vivian is 16 years old and lives with her mother Lisa. She goes to Rockport High School and joins her best friend Claudia. They go to class taught by Mr. Davies. Vivian notices a classmate, Seth, who has gotten more attractive over the summer. Earlier he used to be called Seth The Shrimp. Mr. Davies introduces a new student, Lucy. Mr. Davies begins a discussion of The Great Gatsby, which Lucy criticizes as another tale of a rich white guy expressing sorrow over not having one woman. Mitchell interrupts Lucy’s opinion and defends Gatsby.
Later, Vivian witnesses as Mitchell ends up taking the soda Lucy was trying to buy, and spits in it. Lucy reports Mitchell to Principal Shelly, who doesn’t want to penalize Mitchell and tries to avoid getting involved in the dilemma.
At home, Vivian goes through Lisa’s stuff and finds old zines and gets inspired. Next day at school, an incident happens where the jocks list is sent to everyone’s phone where many girls are embarrassed by their superlatives, giving them sexist and perverse opinions and making the girls self-conscious. When Lucy is called a foul word by star jock Mitchell, Vivian becomes inspired by her feminist mother Lisa and starts “Moxie”, a ‘zine aimed at calling out the unfair treatment of girls at the school, and empowering them to come forward with their issues.
Vivian befriends Lucy, as well as a group of other girls who have been put down, but her best friend Claudia is reluctant to get behind the movement and it causes a rift between them. Vivian also starts a relationship with a classmate named Seth, who knows she started Moxie and fully supports her.
After Mitchell wins an athlete award over the girls’ candidate, Kiera, Vivian walks home depressed, drinking a bottle of champagne along the way. She comes home to find Lisa with John, and is annoyed that she kept this relationship a secret from her. Vivian then throws up.
Later, the Moxie girls respond to Mitchell’s win 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 joined the group, takes the fall for it. Vivian then hits a low point when Claudia calls her out for not coming forward (she knew Vivian started Moxie), while also hitting a bump with Seth and Lisa after she yells at them and Lisa’s boyfriend John during dinner.
Vivian finds a note from an anonymous girl who claimed to have been raped the previous year. Vivian gets Moxie supporters to stage a walk-out in support of the girl. The majority of students do so, and Vivian reveals to have started Moxie. Head cheerleader Emma comes forward as the girl who wrote the note, stating that Mitchell, her ex, was her rapist. She stands up and reveals to everyone that Mitchell raped her the previous year when they were dating, and him calling her “Most Bangable” left her mortified. All the students are horrified and lend their support. Shelly overhears and prepares to punish Mitchell at last.
The Ending
Vivian reconciles with her mom, Claudia, and Seth, and Moxie gains more followers. Lisa expresses pride in her daughter. The girls throw a party in celebration for Moxie.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).