“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

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Director:

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Main Cast:

Thomas Mann

RJ Cyler

Olivia Cooke

(Normally, I put credits next to the director and cast listing, citing movies I’ve seen.  I’ve never seen any of the leads in anything or the director’s only other feature.)

Running Time:  105 Minutes

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Don’t let the title fool you: you’ll smile and laugh more than anything as you watch “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.”  The film won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and has elements of “Juno” and “Boyhood” but is better than either, and I like both movies.

Set in Pittsburgh, narrator Greg (Thomas Mann), is an awkward and self-loathing high school senior who’s made self-deprecation an art form.  The fact he’s smart and clever is acknowledged by the film but not the character himself.  Greg is forced by his mother (Connie Britton) to befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a fellow student he hasn’t been friends with since elementary school, because she has been diagnosed with leukemia.  Greg doesn’t want to do it and Rachel, who he’s honest with in explaining it’s not his choice, doesn’t want his pity.  Despite their mutual resistance to the arrangement, the two begin meeting regularly and gradually sincerely enjoy each other’s company.  Greg’s best friend Earl (RJ Cyler) tags along with the two, as the three were friends in elementary school.  Their shared memories allow for a transition into their renewed friendships, which evolve as the film progresses.

Cooke, Mann and Cyler

To establish the film’s setting and tone, it begins with Greg navigating through his ethnically diverse school, primarily the chaotic and frenzied hallways. His narration explains his method of connecting with and surviving among the different social circles without committing to any of them.  He and Earl make movies with parody titles such as “Ate 1/2 (of My Lunch)”, “Scabface” and “A Sockwork Orange.”  The movie is packed with film references (like Greg’s “Nosferatu” t-shirt as the movie opens), which add color to the movie’s backdrop and depth to the characters.

Mann is given a great character with clever and thoughtful situations and dialogue (and a lot of screen time) and couldn’t have been more true or given more to the role.  Brit Cooke is equally adept as Rachel, a very grounded and, except for her close friends, under-the-radar classmate, whose low-key demeanor masks maturity, depth and talent that belie her young age.  I couldn’t help but see her as a young combination of Christina Ricci, Ellen Page, and Helena Bonham Carter.  Supporting characters are colorful and well fleshed-out, especially Greg’s father (Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman, below, with Cyler and Mann), Greg’s cool, hip and empathetic history teacher/mentor (John Bernthal, left, the film’s strongest presence, with Mann and Cyler), and Earl’s comically (if stereotypically) crass pit bull wielding brother Derrick (Bobb’e J. Thompson).  The only person in the cast I recognized, Molly Shannon, plays Rachel’s understandably emotional single mother and is utilized well in the movie.  As it generally does, having a cast of relative unknowns gives the movie an authenticity, augmenting the writing (Jesse Andrews adapting his novel) and directing, both of which should leave enough of an impression to be remembered at awards time.  As much as I like “Boyhood”, it could only dream of having the depth and emotional impact of this film.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is thoughtful, hilarious, multi-dimensional, and, ultimately, emotionally powerful.  Other films whose endings elicited a similar reaction from me are Steven Spielberg’s 1993 “Schindler’s List”, Jonathan Demme’s 1993 “Philadelphia”, and Roberto Benigni’s 1997 “Life is Beautiful”, the first two being much more blatantly manipulative than “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.”  The ending is also reminiscent of the endings of Guiseppe Tornatore’s 1998 “Cinema Paradiso” and, to a lesser extent, Martin Scorsese’s 2011 “Hugo”.  I’m not sure I’d recommend the film to anyone who knows someone with a similar life-threatening illness because it might hit too close to home.

As I try to do in my reviews, I want to offer my opinion without giving away much more than the basic story line.  I wanted to wait a while so I could digest the film a little more to ensure an objective review because I left the theatre feeling overwhelmed.  Having given it a little time, I can say “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is one of the most funny, thoughtful, satisfying, and emotionally-involving movies I’ve ever seen of its genre, or any genre.

DPW

July 13, 2015

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