All Over Me

Girls may just want to have fun, but there's not much of that in this bleak first feature by sisters Alex and Sylvia Sichel. Alison Folland (Nicole Kidman's pawn in To Die For) stars as awkward, self-deprecating Claude, who is conflicted over her mostly unrequited crush on Ellen, her best friend (Tara Subkoff), and ultimately whether to report to the police Ellen's bad-news boyfriend whom she suspects in the murder of her gay neighbor. Claude's loyalty to Ellen tries the audience's patience, but she herself is such a sympathetic character that we hope she will move on with her life, which she does in the film's bittersweet conclusion. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)