God is Great and I'm Not

Oh, the curse of being a starlet trying to follow up on a delightful breakout film. The world fell in love, blah blah blah, with Audrey Tautou as the sweetly fantastical Amelie, but here she's Michèle, a far less charming, tedious young romantic who's too caught up in her own so-called life. Her sad, sad day-to-day--featuring a series of perfectly lovely and hunky French boyfriends, a fabulous job as a fashion model, and a fun and funky wardrobe--is simply too much to bear, so she attempts suicide and fights with her mom and generally behaves like a spoiled brat. I think director and co-writer (along with Alain Tasma) Pascale Bailly means for us to be charmed by Michèle's "spiritual journey," wherein she tries on various religions like new hairdos and revels in new kinds of amusing rituals without any of the philosophy actually penetrating her little head, but this is a tiresome, unenlightening trip. Not recommended. (M. Johanson)