Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: Movie Review

Based on the novel by Jesse Andrews and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (“The Town that Dreaded Sundown”), “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is a smart, funny, and truly heartfelt story about teenagers. Something that is quite rare in film today, much like 2012’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. I didn’t care for last year’s “The Fault in Our Stars”, which also dealt with teen cancer. It just never felt true, not like “Me and Earl”.

Greg (Thomas Mann) has spent most of his time in high school, trying not to pigeon hole himself into a specific clique. He never wanted to be seen as a theater geek, a role-play nerd, or any other specific group. He would socialize at a bare minimum, causally saying hi to various groups without actually being noticed. This basically gave him the gift of invisibility.
Greg has one friend, Earl (RJ Cyler) and Greg referred to Earl as his co-worker rather than friend, even though they have been inseparable since childhood. Greg and Earl have a deep love for odd foreign films, which was rubbed off on them by Greg’s father (Nick Offerman). When not in school, they make parodies of popular films (Gotta love “A Sockwork Orange”).
When Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a fellow student at Greg’s school is diagnosed with leukemia, his mother (Connie Britton) forces him to go to her house and spend time with her. It doesn’t matter that

Greg and Rachel barely know each other. When Greg arrives on Rachel’s doorstep and greeted by her mother (Molly Shannon), we pretty much know how the rest of the story will play out. We know Greg and Rachel will ultimately become very close, but when done right, that journey can be something very beautiful.

“Me and Earl”, does a fantastic job injecting some laugh-out-loud comedy without making light of the tragic situation. These characters feel very real, most notably Earl. Newcomer RJ Cyler is one of the film’s true revelations. Jon Bernthal (TV’s “The Walking Dead”) is also very good as Greg and Earl’s teacher who allows the boys to join him for lunch while imparting wisdom onto them.

It is easy to see how “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” became a film festival favorite, much like last week’s “Dope”. In a summer filled with huge blockbusters, here are two films catered to young audiences that are better than any massive marketed product currently on the big screen.

By: Marc Ferman