DVD Review: You and I

This is what curiosity gets you.

I've been on a bit of an Anton Yelchin kick lately, so naturally I just threw a bunch of his features in my Netflix queue and watched away. But that's not the first time I've come across You and I. No, I came across this movie back in 2007 when it was shot. When I was attempting to make a case of Mischa Barton's acting talent. (by the way, I came to the conclusion that she ran out) This movie, while the premise seemed kind of weird, two girls falling in love at a tATu concert it still had a two time academy award nominated director and it premiered at Cannes in 2008. Suddenly, it's stars no showed for press, tATu broke up (remember them? Their entire schtick was that they were lesbians, but in reality they weren't. It was just one giant marketing ploy), and this movie fell of the face of the planet only to reemerge in Direct to DVD Hell in 2012. Here's why.

Lana (Mischa Barton, with a failed attempt at a Russian accent. I applaud her effort, but it was so cartoon-y) is a small town girl who dreams of moving to Moscow to become a model. She meets Janie (Shantel VanSanten, who cannot act her way out of a paper bag based on this film) is an American living in Moscow on a tATu website. They meet up for a concert, but their tickets are fake. That plot is quickly dropped and how suddenly they are clubbing in Moscow and rubbing elbows with douchebags like Edward. (Anton Yelchin, convincing Russian accent at least. His parents are Russian, so it doesn't really count) Suddenly Janie is a drug addict and gets kicked out of her house, and Lana get shot down at being a model, and winds up in jail for some totally unbelievable reason. But Janie and Lana wrote a song before all of this happened and posted it on youtube. Of course the tATu camp see it and want to use it, and then everything is all happy in the end.

The plot is all over the place and seriously felt like it forgot what it was doing half way through. Barton seemed like she put a lot of effort into speaking Russian fluently in the film, but it just didn't work out. Not to mention, the cheap shots of Moscow manage to make a beautiful city look plain and boring. The acting was so terrible I don't blame the cast for not wanting to talk about it. How did all of this get by the director? Maybe this was a good idea at the time, but the movie failed on just about every level there is.

Recommended: No

Grade: F

Memorable Quote: "We can do anything." - Lana (Mischa Barton)