Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

I saw Me & Earl last week at Sundance and have not stopped thinking about it. That is a long (6 day) shelf life. What more can one ask from a film? The writing and execution is elite quality. All scenes seem necessary. Parent/child relationships, peer relationships, teacher/student relationships all are captured in humorous and touching ways. Life and death realities are also visited through the lens of "kids" who make as much sense as possible when facing the grim possibilities of severe illness.

Sorry to be redundant from other reviews but this darn film has HEART and should be required viewing for anyone who sees at least one movie a year.

Thanks to the team that made this one happen.

There are about four films that can overcome the "seen it" cynicism I have, unlock my heart and make me feel genuine feelings. In other films I can appreciate that the film is beautiful and emotional, but there are only four that can really get to me. The first was Crash, the second was The Green Mile and the third was Boyhood. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl just scored the fourth slot on that extremely small list. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's film is a beautiful cocktail of wonderful things. Its quirky and charming and witty and touching and somber and delicate and completely beautiful. Its got elements of about six of my favourite films of all time, and the fact that it slam dunked Sundance doesn't even surprise me a bit.

Thomas Mann's Greg is a weirdo. Imagine that Napoleon Dynamite went to Cady Heron's school from Mean Girls, hated all the clicks and became a cynic. Mann shades what could've been a completely unlikeable protagonist with wonderful colours and depth, so much so that when his friend Earl explains to Rachel why Greg is so averse to being friends, we realise we've actually known the whole time. That's probably the most beautiful part of Gomez- Rejon's direction - he never comes out and beats you with information, he leads you gently to it and makes you realise it yourself. RJ Cyler takes Earl, a generic Pedro-type sidekick and makes him just the slacker you'd expect, but with incredible qualities underneath. Olivia Cooke makes the audience love her with her quietly devastating portrayal of a girl with leukaemia. All I can say is that she is a worth recipient of my annual Patricia Arquette Award For Character I Most Want to Hug.

Considering this film has maybe one actor I'd ever heard of, there's a huge pool of talent even in the supporting cast. John Bernthal is good in everything. Nick Offerman is amazing as Greg's stay at home intellectual dad, and Molly Shannon steals every scene as Rachel's emotionally destroyed mother. Keep an eye out for Matt Bennett's utterly bizarre but hilarious Scott Mayhew as well.

Jesse Andrews' screenplay strikes an incredible balance between comedy and drama. Its very easy for a film about cancerous teens to become completely depressing and tedious, but the witty dialogue, incredible spikes of humour and quirky characters make the film beautiful. Andrews isn't trying to make a statement, he's just telling a story about a normal boy who strikes up a friendship with a normal girl. The dialogue is as real as any movie I've ever seen, and the use of minimal effects and hand-held camera really created an authenticity that made me walk away feeling like I've just watched a highly personal reflection, and not a work of fiction.

It's easy to dismiss such a quirky film as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the latest independent film to get a release after making quite an impression at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize in the drama category.

Make the film too quirky and you could alienate an audience however, a subtle amount of quirkiness combined with a good blend of comedy and drama will give you a film like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which ends up being both irresistible and infectious to its audience.

Greg (Thomas Mann) is a high school student who just wants to get through school without associating himself with any of the various cliques or making enemies. Along with his friend Earl (RJ Cyler), Greg spends his spare time making parodies of their favourite classic movies.

When he learns that his childhood friend, Rachel (Olivia Cooke), has been diagnosed with leukemia, he is forced by his overbearing parents to befriend her in her time of need. Through this friendship, Greg soon finds his outlook on life altered.

There is always the uneasy feeling of laughing at a film that centres around a girl suffering from cancer. There is great care taken though by director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, in making sure that the subject gets the delicate treatment it deserves with the perfect combination of comedy and drama.

He is aided by a delightful screenplay from Jesse Andrews, the author of the book the film is adapted from, full of enough wit, charm and quirky cutaway moments, such as the feeling of when the hot girl at school talks to you, to leave you with a smile on your face.

The film is elevated to another level by the three main performances from Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke, all showing fine range in both the dramatic and comedic departments. They are supported quite wonderfully by the likes of Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Jon Bernthal and Molly Shannon, and keep your ears peeled for a funny voice cameo from Hugh Jackman that fits the quirkiness of the film so well.

Critics love it and so should audiences, I'm just hoping people decide to go and see it instead of some of the inane drivel that Hollywood produces these days. It really does deserve all the success it can get.

I have to start my review with discussing the inevitable comparisons with "The Fault in Our Stars". John Green fans would find it blasphemous to say this is a superior film but it certainly is. I don't think that I can argue that the characters in TFIOS are more realistic, but the whole unique style and quirkiness of MAEATDG make it a true classic of the teen genre like "The Breakfast Club" or "Breaking Away". It as important as many of the films to which Earl and Greg pay homage with their own hilarious versions.

So many of the same subjects that one finds in any film about the coming of age of high school students exist in this film, but the director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon puts his own stamp on what could otherwise be called cliché. Kudos to Gomez-Rejon whose previous work has been with several Fox TV shows. He should have a good career in film from here on out.

Olivia Cooke as Rachel, Thomas Mann as Greg, and RJ Cyler as Earl are all fantastic. I was familiar with Olivia Cooke before but not the other two. I expect to see a lot more from all of them.

The adults are all superbly cast as well. Molly Shannon spends the movie with a glass of white wine in one hand drowning the pain of dealing with her daughter's plight. Connie Briton and Nick Offerman are wonderful as Greg's parents, with Nick showing that the eccentricities of the child do not fall far from the tree.

I saw this tonight at a screening in Denver at an art house cinema called "The Mayan" It was built probably in the 30s or 40s most likely a single cinema that they did a pop top on to create two more theaters. Those two upstairs theaters are odd to say the least. The leg room is less than economy class on Spirit Air and the screen is not much more than double the size of my screen at home. Probably less that 150 seats as well.Weird place to show the film, since the theater downstairs is really quite nice. I bring this up because I hope this film gets seen by more than the art- house crowd. It really should have mass appeal. I assume Fox hopes to build strong word of mouth on Me and Earl. Well let me help them. Just go see this film. You won't regret it.

I saw it three times. Yes,it was painful because we were all that kid -- geek, awkward, nowhere with girls.

The movie is honest, funny, and I will see Olivia Cooke's unreal face in front of me for months. (And she did shave her head; I wondered about that.) R.J. Cyler gave perfect balance to the lead actor's awkward role.

The best thing about this movie is the writing; it crackles at times with insight into the outsider's life.

I am much aggrieved that it only earned four million at the box office nationally. It's worth a lot more.