Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Yes, God, Yes’ on Netflix, Where ‘Stranger Things’s Natalia Dyer Plays a Catholic Schoolgirl Discovering Her Sexuality

Can you go to Hell for rewatching the steamy car scene from Titanic over and over? When it’s the early 2000s and you’re a 16-year-old Catholic teen growing up in the Midwest, the answer may not be so easy. From Obvious Child cowriter Karen Maine comes Yes, God, Yes, a fresh, funny teen masturbation coming-of-age story (pun intended) that puts a spotlight on female pleasure. 

YES, GOD, YES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Welcome to Catholic school in the early aughts, where skirt lengths are measured relentlessly, sex ed is abstinence-only, and after-school entertainment usually entails signing onto AOL. When Alice (Stranger Things star Natalia Dyer) begins to experience all the typical urges a teen might, she’s overwhelmed by the messages passed down to her – including the one that sex with yourself is a sin, too. Thanks to a rumor spread about her tossing someone’s salad (a term she spends much of the film trying to unearth the definition of), Alice finds herself catching passive aggressive flack from Father Murphy (Veep‘s Timothy Simons) and her so-called “friends”.

Desperate for answers and perhaps some kind of redemption, Alice signs up to go on a weekend retreat with a group of her classmates. She does her best to suppress her urges and resist a new crush, but when she witnesses hypocrisy coming from every angle, she begins to spiral. Will she come to terms with her own pleasure? Can she possibly break free of the seemingly inescapable shackles of Catholic guilt? Will she ever find out what “tossing salad” means? Yes, God, Yes explores all these questions and more with humor and grace, a rare combination for this kind of comedy.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: While there’s certainly comparisons to be made with other coming-of-age flicks that involve shaming teens for totally normal feelings, Yes, God, Yes often marches to the beat of its own drum. It may share an early-aughts Catholic school setting with Lady Bird, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

Performance Worth Watching: Veep‘s Timothy Simons steals his scenes as Father Murphy, the school’s seemingly fearless leader. Able to rock both a clerical collar and a retreat sweatshirt on any given day, he perfectly fits the bill for master manipulator of the youths (and manages to drive home some laugh-out-loud lines in the process).

Memorable Dialogue: There are several lines in Yes, God, Yes that are genuinely funny – comparing male and female desire to microwaves and convection ovens is one of them – but a particular deadpan from retreat leader Nina (Alisha Boe) may very well take top prize:

“We made s’mores after lunch. Saved you one… We pretended each marshmallow was a different mortal sin before burning it. Yours was lust.”

Single Best Shot: Yes, God, Yes is full of thoughtful, artfully composed frames, but this moment of visual storytelling – which is accompanied by a needle drop that genuinely caused me to choke on my drink – is one of the film’s finest.

Sex and Skin: That’s pretty much the entire premise of the flick, isn’t it? Yes, God, Yes wastes no time in getting to scandalous, early aughts cybersex content, sparking a fire deep within young Alice. There are references to sexual acts and a few glimpses of porn throughout the flick, but its R-rating still doesn’t necessarily feel warranted. If you’re here just for the raunchy, sexy stuff, you’ve come to the wrong teen comedy.

Our Take: Teen comedies have certainly come a long way over the last decade and change, but they tend to depict teens’ quest for partnered sex. It’s hard to recall many other films that put the spotlight on a young woman and her own pleasure, and how she can achieve that pleasure all by herself (well, and with the help of the occasional mop, chunky yellow cell phone, or personal massager). Yes, God, Yes feels wholly authentic, and that’s largely due to it being semi-autobiographical in nature – but it’s also a testament to the on-screen execution of Maine’s writing. In addition to Dyer and Simons, the ensemble cast – the aforementioned Boe, Francesca Reale, Wolfgang Novogratz, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Donna Lynne Champlin – truly shine in their respective roles. They feel like part of a complete picture, a genuine experience.

Those in pursuit of a typically raunchy, punchline-filled teen comedy won’t find what they’re looking for here. But if you’re willing to broaden your horizons and embrace the earnestness of it all, Yes, God, Yes may be right up your alley. It’s refreshing to watch something so true to itself, especially after having covered the short film three years ago. It can often feel simplistic – one wonders if there should be more to the story – but at under 90 minutes long, it’s hard to complain.

If you’re someone who has struggled with Catholic guilt well into adulthood, you’ll probably feel a bit triggered by Yes, God, Yes, but you may also feel comforted by the end. I found myself cringing during confession and praying for some kind of escape from many of the film’s most awkward encounters, but that’s because it all rings so incredibly true. It’s rare that a teen sex comedy is able to be both genuinely funny and frank, charming and cringeworthy, but Yes, God, Yes manages to marry all these things with grace. It’s a sincere, sweet movie, one that leans into the uncomfortable comedy of its subject matter and simultaneously explores bigger themes of shame and sexuality. Laughs and lessons learned? Hallelujah.

Our Call: STREAM IT. At a lean 74 minutes, this heartfelt, unabashedly horny tale of one girl’s quest to understand her desire is more than worth your time.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream Yes, God Yes on Netflix