Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Review

Starring: Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, RJ Cyler, Nick Offerman, Molly Shannon, Connie Britten

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the winner of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. If you're unfamiliar with this event, it's where all independent filmmakers show their movies to try and get distributors like 20th Century Fox to pick them up. The group of films that previously won include Whiplash, (500) Days of Summer, Heathers, and The Usual Suspects. So it's a pretty big deal when one wins. It's instantly one of the biggest Oscar contenders, and it pretty much guarantees great reviews. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a little different than those other movies. It's quirky. It tells the story of an awkward pessimistic high school senior, and how his mom forces him to befriend a classmate diagnosed with leukemia. Sounds sad, right? Nope, this movie is a comedy. Oh, and the protagonist Greg and his best friend Earl remake classic movies into low budget B-movies with funny names. A Clockwork Orange becomes A Sockwork Orange, Peeping Tom becomes Pooping Tom. It is incredibly quirky, but has a lot of heart. I really enjoyed Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. I wouldn't call it the next Whiplash, which transitioned into a bonafide sensation, but it's a must-see nonetheless.

We see the world of high school through Greg's narrow-minded eyes. He has gone his whole life creating a false image of himself, and one that fits into all cliques without becoming part of any of them. He is literally able to slip through unnoticed, without being one of the unnoticed kids (apparently that's a clique too). His only friend is Earl, but he's too self-conscious to call him his friend. They're "co-workers". Like I said above, Greg and Earl make low-budget ripoffs. And nobody's allowed to see them until Greg lets Rachel, a senior diagnosed with leukemia watch them, and finally lets somebody into his life. It's a wonderful story about adolescence and life in high school, and doesn't stray away from the deep topics. Greg wants nothing to do with Rachel until his mom forces him to hangout with her every day after school. She gets her first real friend, and he gets to do charity work. Until he actually starts to love her. I promise you, this is not a The Fault in Our Stars mushy romance. They are purely friends from the movie's start to its end. And it evokes big questions about what the death of a friend means, and where life goes after it.

The acting is particularly good, but it's nothing I'd say is immediately "Oscar worthy." Everyone has their moment, which is great. Connie Britton and Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation) are great as Greg's quirky parents. Greg's dad is methodical and ponders sociology and life, and he's hilarious to watch. His mom is very pushy and deeply contrasts Rachel's mother played by Molly Shannon, who is as funny as she always is. She drinks and hits on the high school boys, but you get to see how losing her only child as a single mother will destroy her. Thomas Mann is a great lead, playing a very flawed character with a huge character arc. The best performance I'd say is Olivia Cooke as Rachel. There's a scene where she tells Greg she's going off chemo, and he yells at her that she's "given up." The way that scene is filmed, with her her back to him, never turning to face him as she icily berates him over how little he knows of actually living, is amazing, and proves that a comedy isn't afraid to tackle scenes of such a serious nature. And she takes her hat off, and you see how much her face and her head has changed. It's heartbreaking, to say the least. This is the scene where you realize he finally cares about someone, but is still a little selfish too. I also have to give a shout-out to RJ Cyler as Earl. He does great! He's funny, but his scenes are also deep, and he has a lot of skill for a new actor. I can't wait to see what career choices he makes going on.

So do I recommend you see this? Absolutely. There were a few things I didn't like though. The camera angles at the beginning were a little mind-boggling to me, and distracted me from the plot. I also felt like the script didn't really know where it was headed at the beginning of the film. Once it kicks into gear, it is a fabulous film with great characters, and great moments of immense sadness and joy. You'll laugh and you'll cry. But what separates this movie from all the other teen movies, and other movies about death? It's that this movie is not about a singular death. It's about how life never truly ends. You can live in the fear that the day you graduate, your life as you know it ceases to exist. That's how Greg lived before he met Rachel and he wasn't truly living. And Rachel embodies the message that a death doesn't mean the end. When a friend or loved one dies, you don't stop learning about them. Their life grows and grows even after the heart stops beating, and in this case, Rachel taught someone a lesson they'll never forget. I loved this movie, and I highly recommend it. It's not perfect, but it has some very important things to say.

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