The New York Times by A.O. Scott

To call this thrillingly original, deeply felt movie a coming-of-age story would be to insult it with cliché. It’s much more the story, or rather a series of interlocking, incomplete stories, about what it feels like to be a certain age and to feel caught, as the title suggests, between the desire to be yourself and the longing to fit in.

Slant Magazine by Jesse Cataldo

A delirious representation of incipient personalities in bloom, its form as amorphous and reckless as the vibrant youths it portrays.

Chicago Sun-Times by Michal Oleszczyk

Upon leaving the theater I had a feeling like I just got to know a bunch of kids: some great, some annoying, but all living lives that extend beyond what little I saw of them on the screen.

Los Angeles Times by Sheri Linden

Moving somewhat obviously toward denouement, the film hits a false note or two. But mainly it's exhilarating in its refusal to make smooth what's messy, inchoate and tenaciously alive.

Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz

By the end of the ride, we’ll see glimpse of happiness, sadness, joy, heartbreak, maybe even tragedy, if cell phone-shot recollections are to be believed. All bases are covered, in other words, in one late-afternoon ride, a ride Gondry and his cast will make you want to take.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen

Still, credit Gondry, like Tocqueville before him, with at least re-examining tired clichés and scraping the rust off stereotypes.

The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney

Michel Gondry takes an idiosyncratic, funny, unexpectedly poignant snapshot of American youth in The We and the I. Rambling and unpolished, the film has a scrappy charm that springs organically from the characters and their stories rather than being artificially coaxed.

Village Voice by Michelle Orange

At its finest and most affecting, The We and the I is a window onto youth’s forever moments

The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson

The problem with The We And The I: Gondry is focused more on moments than on the film as a whole.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

Most of the performances are as unpolished as they are heartfelt, which is both endearing and distracting.

The Guardian by Henry Barnes

Gondry's argument – that pack mentality crushes individual expression – follows a similarly predictable route, but there's enough of his signature playfulness (especially in the use of mobile-phone footage to present flashbacks) to keep the journey entertaining.

Time Out by David Fear

By the end of the ride, the movie’s messy humanity has officially calcified into After-School Special clichés; given the choice between handcrafted whimsy and heavy-handedness, we’ll take the former, thanks.

New York Post by Kyle Smith

Fake documentaries annoy me — why not put in the effort and deliver the real thing? — and this one is not only aimless and stiff, it also rings false.

The Playlist by James Rocchi

Muddled, muffled and mixing empty comedy with empty dramatics, The We and the I is an abject failure.