Movie Review: Me & Earl & The Dying Girl

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Me & Earl & The Dying Girl

Release Day: June 12th 2015
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Writer: Jesse Andrews
Main Cast: Thomas Mann, R.J. Cyler, Olivia Cooke
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sexual content, drug material, language and some thematic elements)
Genres: Drama
Running Time: 1 hr. 44 min.

Official Sites: Web | Facebook | IMDb

High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.

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It should be known that I went into Me & Earl & The Dying Girl with very little knowledge about what the film was actually about. The only thing I did know was that by the end of everything I was going to be bawling my eyes out. I mean come on with a title like that tissue should already come with your ticket. I'm vaguely going to go into the movie only because I want you to have the same experience I did. I obviously heard all the hype around it when it first got screen at Sundance and after winning the Grand Jury Prize I knew it was a must watch for me.

So let’s break down the title. The “Me” is Greg (Thomas Mann), an awkward senior just trying to go on with his life under the radar in school . “Earl” (R.J. Cyler) is Greg’s co-worker, not his friend. He’s co-worker. They hang out together watching old films, trying Greg's dads odd food, as well as making films of their own. The “Dying Girl” is Rachel (Olivia Cooke), whom Greg vaguely knows from school. When Greg’s mother (Connie Britton) happens to find out that Rachel has been diagnosed with cancer, she forces him to spend time with her. What comes out of this story is truly amazing. Me & Earl & The Dying Girl is sure to become a cult classic.

The one thing I was not expecting when I went in to watch Me & Earl & The Dying Girl was to laugh so much. It felt so much more light hearted and the one liners were so on point. It throws things at you and the way we get to see it from Greg’s point of view makes it that much better. Thomas Mann does a stupendous job as the incredibly awkward Greg. Mann shows real and raw emotions and I absolutely love the way everything was handled. R.J. Cyler as Earl steals the show for me. I absolutely loved every scene he was in. The few short scenes we did get with the trio were probably my favorite. Cooke as Rachel was brilliant. It's so hard to put into words what it is that made this cast stand out so much. You can easily relate to the characters and the way it was filmed makes you feel like you are part of the story.

Me & Earl & The Dying Girl is not your typical YA to movie we've come accustomed to. Not only are we switching things up by having the story told by a guy’s point of view, but this is also the first film that I’ve seen not take the boy meets girl and falls instantly in love with her approach. No, this is far from that. Me & Earl & The Dying Girl is a love letter to the old classic films, a story of the value of friendship and also what it means to really open up. I can’t recommend this film enough!

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