Movie Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl


I was excited to see this film, because when I checked Rotten Tomatoes before the screening, its "tomatometer" was at 100% - fairly rare for a film. I found Me and Earl and the Dying Girl to be a mixture of Juno and other indie movies I've seen, and although it moves at a slow pace, overall it's worth seeing.

Greg (Thomas Mann) has found the secret to surviving high school: become friends with all of the "groups," but never good friends, and you'll be able to coast through. This technique has been working for him up until his senior year of high school, when his mom (Connie Britton) makes him befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a schoolmate who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Their "doomed friendship," as he calls it, is initially very awkward, but they soon become good friends. Greg's friend Earl (RJ Cyler), with whom he makes home movies, also becomes friends with Rachel, and together they decide to make a movie for her.

Parts of Me and Earl had me laughing, but parts were very slow and more ironic versus funny. I loved Thomas Mann in Beautiful Creatures - I'm a big fan of both the movie and the book series - so I was glad to see him again on-screen, albeit in a different sort of role. RJ Cyler was also funny as Greg's friend Earl, and both Molly Shannon and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) have small parts here too, as Rachel's mom and Greg and Earl's high school teacher, respectively. Nick Offerman also plays Greg's father, and carries around their family cat, who looks a lot like Grumpy Cat, which was funny.

Yes, see this film, but save it for a matinee. My favorite scene in the film was actually a scene where Greg and Earl accidentally get stoned, because it's weird yet also funny; they're hanging out eating popsicles and Greg keeps having hallucinations. Me and Earl reminded me a lot of Juno not only because of the "subtitles" on screen (such as "Day 1 of Doomed Friendship," when he meets Rachel) but because of its overall quirkiness and "offbeat" tone; however, I did like Juno better than this film in general. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a movie that you'll definitely need Kleenex for, as well, and although I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, I still do recommend it overall.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is currently playing in theaters and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 105 minutes. 3.5 stars out of 5.

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