This movie tries so hard to be cute and clever that its concentrated sweetness gave me a high for about five minutes and then I crashed for the rest of it. <br /><br />Amalie (Audrey Tautou) has the demeanor of a spoiled little girl who grew up thinking she was ever so cute. She seems to be saying, "Look at me, can you resist me?" And then she gives off a self-satisfied smile with the hint, "You thought I was cute before, aren't you blown away by my smile?" Ugh.<br /><br />But the thing that really bugs me about this movie is Amelie's conceit. She presumes to know what will make others happy and meddles in their lives. Among the things this adorable girl does is break and enter an apartment to do mean things to its owner's possessions, send false letters, short out people's TV's at peak moments, lie to people about who loves them, make anonymous phone calls without having the integrity to speak with the callee, and steal one of her father's prize possessions.<br /><br />I know that we are supposed to accept the fantasy nature of this film where photos talk, statues wink, and people always answer public phones, but my patience for this kind of thing wore thin very fast. We are told, shown actually, that Amelie's mother was killed by a suicidal person jumping off of Notre Dame and landing on her. How are are we supposed to react to that? Is it supposed to be funny? Wasn't to me.<br /><br />Then there is the agonizing game that Amelie plays with the guy she falls far. She gives him hints and, given the opportunity to make contact, shies away. You just want to shake her and tell her to just talk to the guy for heaven's sake. Finally at the end they meet and the first thing they do without saying a word is kiss and have sex. What kind of message is that? <br /><br />The whole movie is filmed through some kind of orange filter that I suppose is meant to cast some sort of romantic candle-lit effect over the proceedings, but for me it was just one more barrier that prevented me from getting close to this movie.