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Fortunately, life gets better for Hawkes when cute, awkward performance artist Miranda July develops a crush on him. She makes her feelings known to him, but he is as awkward as she is, and their relationship has a difficult time getting started.
Meanwhile, Hawkes' sons have romantic adventures of their own. Ratcliff has an online flirtation with a (presumably) grown woman. Thompson becomes friends with neighbor girl Carlie Westerman, who has planned out the set design of her future household in exacting detail. Thompson also has an encounter with two sexually curious teen girls, Natasha Slayton and Najarra Townsend, who also conspire to lose their virginity to chubby young adult Brad William Henke.
How others will see it. Per imdb.com user ratings, this film has its strongest appeal to teen viewers, partly because five of the principal supporting characters are under 20, and partly because of the writer/director July's approving attitude toward eccentric behavior, even if it is of sexual origin. User ratings gradually decline with increasing age, until the over 45 crowd is less than enthralled, probably suspicious and judgmental of the film's acceptance of what some might consider deviancy.
The quirky movie did well in the festival circuit, winning four minor awards at Cannes. It also had a profitable theatrical run. The Independent Film Channel production was July's first feature film, and like many first efforts, it has a fresh and uninhibited perspective that will charm many viewers.
How I felt about it. But what if the movie had been directed by a man? Would it have been regarded differently? Would the characters of Henke, Slayton, and Townsend (in particular) have come across differently? As it is, all scenes involving any of those three characters are uncomfortable. We worry that the movie will degenerate into child pornography when the two teen girls go down on Thompson, a scene that could easily have also been played for laughs. There are no repercussions: Slayton, Townsend, and Thompson appear to have chalked it up as a meaningless educational encounter.
Not so for the film's other disturbing subplot, which involves the two teen girls and their relationship with Henke. The teens hang out, adult Henke notices them, and the teens entice him. He responds by putting written messages on his windows, directed toward the teens and certain (in real life) to eventually provoke a visit from a police officer. The teens debate the implications of the deviant written messages, and decide to ask Henke for sex. He gets cold feet first.
How does July direct such dangerous material? As if it were a whimsical comedy. First of all, nobody gets burned, not even Hawkes' hand, which comes out of the bandages as good as new. Secondly, the under 20 players undergo no emotional trauma. Your parents may break up, your dad might set his hand on fire in front of you, an adult may be soliciting you on the internet, and two teen girls make you an offer you can't refuse. But the sun will rise again tomorrow, regardless of what may happen today. So there's no point in getting worked up over anything.
Such Zen wisdom is lost on the adult characters, because they are old enough to know that Zen solves nothing. Hawkes worries about his children, and July is frustrated on two counts. Her career as a performance artist remains in limbo, and she can't get Hawkes to pursue her. Although why she wants him is anyone's guess. He's a shoe salesman at the mall, he's as homely as a court jester, he's still married, and he set his hand on fire for no sensible material.
But behavior that makes sense is not what Me and You and Everyone We Know is all about. The title is a "Jeopardy"-style answer to the question, Who is Messed Up? You can take comfort from Miranda July's conclusion that since everyone is a basket case, there's absolutely no shame in it.