THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE: What Happens When All The Negatives Of Young Adult Movies Are Thrown Together

AppleTV

Directed Josephine Decker

Stars: Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon, Cherry Jones, and Jason Segel

There have been some very entertaining and well made YA movies over the years. So when the trailer for A24 and Apple’s The Sky Is Everywhere released and I realized that the unique creative stylings of Josephine Decker would be making this YA film- then my excitement was high. The two things and A24 as the production company felt like a match made in heaven, something that would go down as another interesting young adult book turned movie. Yet, everything we really got in the end from it- was the exact opposite. A boring slog that ends up feeling like a bad fever dream as the creative stylings and the uninteresting storylines blur into one inconceivable mess.

A shy, teenage musician tries to keep things together in the aftermath of her older, more outgoing sister's death.

One of the most painful scripts so far this year, the film has so much it wants to say. Yet accomplishes none of it. Instead of focusing on a single YA film topic, it decides to throw an endless amount of darts hoping for one to land. Inadvertently damaging any possibility for the messaging to land at all. The love triangle story featuring our leads deceased boyfriend- comes off super inappropriate and just sets the sail for the uncomfortable-nature to come. The dialogue is super choppy, and unnatural- none of it feels like things real humans would ever say or even think of saying.

Decker’s signature style starts off fine, and while one can appreciate some of the camera work and the use of colour within it. The risks soon play off as a bad YTV commercial from the early 2000’s. None of it felt like an actual film, just completely like a commercial. The score is overwhelming and blares over the characters at a far too noisy and overbearing level.

The cast is fine, the characters are so badly written that I think the actors should be critiqued less than the roles they were given. Segel does his best with the limited screen time he’s given, but there’s not enough for even him to be someone to invest an interest in.

AppleTV’s had a great track record up until this point, but The Sky Is Everywhere is a clear can skip for me.

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