Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

I think this movie was made for the sole reason of pissing me off. It takes everything that aggravates me about New Emo cinema (overreliance on geek chic; dialogue that sounds far too writerly to work out loud; we-are-all-connected naivete; precocious children; non-characters who are defined solely by their quirks) and pumps it all up with helium until it floats away as if it never existed at all. Sicinski says (positively) that Miranda July directs like Sam Fuller reincarnated as an eighth-grade girl, but what he leaves out is that July also writes like an eighth-grade girl. Even the film's selling point -- deviant sexuality involving children -- comes off poorly; yes, the first AIM chat is cute, but as the film goes on the sex angle loses its novelty and becomes tiresome and immature. Thankfully, it's not as plastic as Garden State, but I think that makes it even worse, since (unlike Zach Braff's film) this film was obviously made as a labor of love. Which is why it's so embarrassing that none of it works at all. I mean Christ, even July's character's performance art is irritating. Please, please, please go away.

Grade: C-