In Yes, God, Yes Natalia Dyer discovers her sexuality at Bible camp

Natalia Dyer battles her hormones and abstinence culture in Yes, God, Yes

Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things) stars as Alice in Yes, God, Yes. She’s a young girl at a Catholic school where all of the kids are pretending to be knowledgeable about sex when none of them are. The school preaches a very strong message of abstinence but these are teens so their bodies are sending signals that are difficult to repress.

When we meet Alice, she is dealing with rumors at school about her performing a sex act on another student. At the same time, she wanders, innocently, into an AOL chat room and ends up engaging in a “cyber” session before panicking and running away. It’s clear Alice has questions and is starting to feel things but her faith has told her that she isn’t supposed to act on these feelings.

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This story will be familiar to many viewers. Whether you went to a Christian school or come from a very conservative family you can relate to this story. Yes, God, Yes is a coming of age story that sheds light on the dangerous and hypocritical nature of abstinence culture.

Natalia Dyer is great!

Known most widely for her role in Stranger Things, Natalia Dyer has done a great job of embodying the innocent teenaged girl. She is back in that role in Yes, God, Yes but in this role, she is even more meek than she is on Stranger Things.

At the same time, you can see she is curious in many ways, and though she is not educated on the sexual matters she encounters you don’t necessarily question her intelligence. You simply see her as the sheltered young woman she is.

Yes, God, Yes is awkward, funny, and has a great coming of age message

Throughout the film, you’ll be frustrated by some of the awkward moments she has but by the end, you will be proud of her growth. Natalia’s character does change by the end of the film but not in a way that makes it seem like a few days made her a new person, just one who was more comfortable in her skin.

Yes, God, Yes is hilariously awkward

While I have a hard time watching films with a lot of cringeworthy moments, Yes, God, Yes still works for me. All of the kids are awkward but it’s funny because you know that these kids exist. You may have been one of these kids or you at least knew one.

My favorite character was Wolfgang Novogratz’s (Sierra Burgess is a Loser) Chris. Chris is the hunky captain of the football team who should have all of the ladies fawning over him but he’s not interested. His character reminded me of Tim Tebow in the sense that he is very genuine in the way he carries himself and he seems to not even notice how girls are looking at him.

All of his encounters with Alice are great because she’s lusting hard and he’s just smiling and being a nice guy who cares about everyone. Their scenes are my favorite in this movie.

Yes, God, Yes has a message

The goal of Yes, God, Yes was clearly to shed light on hypocrisy from adults who push abstinence culture. This film could have easily gone too far to drive its point home. It could have given us a predictable ending that didn’t fit into the real world but would play well cinematically but it didn’t. I kept waiting for Natalia Dyer’s Alice to have this huge moment where she publicly shamed all of the liars she encountered but it never came. I am glad it didn’t.

Instead, we got a perfect response from a girl who did not need to put others down to feel justified in her feelings or actions. She gets even in a way that is consistent with her personality and it’s a very fulfilling ending.

Abstinence-only education leads to more STD transmission and early pregnancy because young people’s bodies are going to drive them to act. Telling them to repress those feelings rather than explaining how to manage them safely has been proven to lead to disastrous results more often than the alternative. Yes, God, Yes exposes this reality in a way that doesn’t feel heavy-handed but still gets its point across.

Yes, God, Yes is available where theaters are open or available to rent or buy on VOD platforms.