By: Caden H. Hollander
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and stars Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke. The film is based on a novel written by Jesse Andrews, and is about a high schooler named Greg (Thomas Mann), who is a bit of a loner and spends most of his time with his friend Earl (RJ Cyler), making crazy parodies of movies. However, he eventually stumbles into a friendship with Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a girl at his school diagnosed with leukemia. This friendship buds into something that changes him, Earl and Rachel for the rest of their lives.
Just to start, I absolutely love dramedies and coming of age stories, so this film was tailor-made for me. That could partially be one of the reasons that I enjoyed this film to the extent that I did, but it also has to do with the fantastic performances from the lead actors, as well as a believable story that never at any moment became too sappy or cheesy, or even like those romantic young adult films that the industry is pumping out weekly. No, this film was its own thing, a unique take on high school, cancer and life in general. I went into the movie theater expecting this movie to be great (after all, it won Sundance, right?) and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl did not disappoint in the slightest.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and stars Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke. The film is based on a novel written by Jesse Andrews, and is about a high schooler named Greg (Thomas Mann), who is a bit of a loner and spends most of his time with his friend Earl (RJ Cyler), making crazy parodies of movies. However, he eventually stumbles into a friendship with Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a girl at his school diagnosed with leukemia. This friendship buds into something that changes him, Earl and Rachel for the rest of their lives.
Just to start, I absolutely love dramedies and coming of age stories, so this film was tailor-made for me. That could partially be one of the reasons that I enjoyed this film to the extent that I did, but it also has to do with the fantastic performances from the lead actors, as well as a believable story that never at any moment became too sappy or cheesy, or even like those romantic young adult films that the industry is pumping out weekly. No, this film was its own thing, a unique take on high school, cancer and life in general. I went into the movie theater expecting this movie to be great (after all, it won Sundance, right?) and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl did not disappoint in the slightest.
As for the writing, the script for this film is written by the same person who wrote the novel that this movie is based on, Jesse Andrews. While I have not read the book, and the script could be a blatant copy of the novel (and I wouldn't know), the film is SO well-written, with great dialog and fantastic interaction between the characters. A major plus to this film was that character's relations with each other seemed VERY real, not manufactured or fake. As a matter of fact, all of the characters in the film felt as if they could actually be real people, which was super duper cool!
As for the acting, it was all fantastic. The characters in the film felt like real people. To start, Thomas Mann did a great job in the lead as Greg. Usually it is hard to get into a "loner" main character, but he played it really well. You really got behind Greg, and all of the struggles his character went through in the film. RJ Cyler was also really funny as Greg's friend, Earl. The two actors had fantastic on-screen chemistry, and they actually seemed like they could be friends in real life. Olivia Cooke gave the stand-out performance in the film as Rachel, the girl diagnosed with cancer. Her performance was heartfelt and extremely well acted. She felt like a real character, and you as the viewer really felt what her character was going through in the movie. All of the supporting roles in the film were funny and cool, but there were no other stand-outs, so the main three in the film are all I will touch on.
On the overall, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a fantastic indie film that I would totally recommend, especially if you like coming-of-age stories and dramedies. All of the acting is great, the script is well-done, with witty dialog, and it was extremely well directed as well. This Sundance sensation lived up to the hype created at the festival, and deserves an A. So, what did you think of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl? Comment below with your thoughts!