With its coming-of-age theme and exploration of teenage sexuality, "All Over Me" drew comparisons from critics to other films, in particular Larry Clark's "Kids" and Maria Maggenti's "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love", both from 1995. Although similarities were noted, "All Over Me" was praised for its differences to these two films. "E!" called it gentler than "Kids", and Muskewitz said "All Over Me" was less exploitative than that film. Emanual Levy described it as the far more interesting and complex of the two. Ron Wells said "thank god it's not "Kids"" and Bernstein said that "comparison misses the point". When comparing it to "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love", Emanuel Levy called "All Over Me" "much more accomplished". SplicedWire called it " an ideal companion feature for Todd Solondz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse", another female-centred coming-of-age film from the mid-1990s.