'Lady Bird' is a crowd-pleasing charmer in the James L. Brooks vein

When I first went off to college, I remember being flummoxed by the fact that my mother seemed inconsolable. When she bawled and carried on, I thought: Who is this woman?

Not unlike the titular character of Lady Bird, I was under the distinct impression that my mother couldn't stand me, so this emotional display at the thought of my leaving made no sense to me.

Now as I've grown a little older, even though I don't have kids, I have a better handle on how much of a handful I was as an angsty teen and how much my mother's rage was just her way of showing love.

Actress Greta Gerwig, who wrote and directed this lovely little gem, is about the same age as me, and while her Sacramento upbringing (which somewhat inspired this film) probably couldn't be more different than mine, she does brilliantly capture many distinct qualities of a very specific moment in a young person's life.

One might argue its the peak of your obnoxiousness, you are both leaving your parents behind but also still wholly dependent on them -- but it's also the first time I started to get flashes of adult consciousness and clarity. It's when you start to figure out who you are and articulate those notions.

Gerwig has managed to channel all she's learned in her already prolific career to become an assured director in her own right, and she has assembled a stellar cast of great veteran characters actors alongside a terrific Saoirse Ronan, to tell a straight-forward, touching and very funny story in a purely crowd-pleasing fashion, without sacrificing her integrity.

Sure, there are a few moments that are a tad on the nose sentimental, a few lines feel more written than spoken -- but these are minor quibbles. The movie reminded me of the best of James L. Brooks -- think Broadcast News or Terms of Endearment -- movies that pack an emotional wallop while still tickling your funny bone and giving the characters space to breathe.

Shoo-in Oscar nominees

It's one of the few so-called prestige pictures to come out this year that I expect to become a big fat hit, if for no other reason it feels like a movie we need right now. Although it has a streak of melancholy that runs throughout it, this is a largely life-affirming movie.

It's not 'feel good' in the traditional sense, but not unlike Boyhood, the movie could be viewed as a paean to the messy beauty of life, and although Ronan and Laurie Metcalf as her mother are the center of this film, it wouldn't be half as good if the minor characters didn't stand out as vital as well.

I don't know how much of Lady Bird is truly based on Gerwig's life experience (it is set in the early 2000s when Gerwig would have been in about the same age as the lead), she has been cagey about how much of it is, but she certainly 'gets' something very honest about how goofy, casually selfish and occasionally quite sweet young people are at the age.

And she does this largely without too much gimmicky dialogue or contrived plot devices. It may not be ground-breaking filmmaking but it was a delight to watch from start to finish.