Lazy Film Critic reviews....
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a comedy/drama based on the novel of the same name by Jesse Andrews. It's directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and stars Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, and Olivia Cooke. The film follows a socially awkward teenager named Greg, and his friendship with Rachel, a girl who has been recently diagnosed with cancer. Alongside that, it also follows his friendship with Earl, a guy who he makes these Be Kind Rewind style parodies of popular movies with.
Watching this movie, the first thing that will catch everyones eyes will be the films style. This movie has a really unique style, seemingly like nothing I've really seen before in a movie like this. This movie uses really quirky characters to its advantage to bring this movie to life, as well as some of the best and most well thought out shots I've seen in a high school movie. It has some of the stuff you'd expect from a high school movie, such as narration, and cutting the scenes into parts with text separating every part, but what makes this movie so great is how it uses these things to its advantage.
If you remember from my Ouija movie review (worst movie of 2014), I said in that movie I didn't think much of Olivia Cooke. So, when I saw she was starring in this movie, I wasn't optimistic by any stretch of the imagination. However, a lot apparently changed for Cooke in the time between Ouija and this movie, as she's surprisingly good, and plays the emotional centre of this film. A lot of her scenes really hit you where you live, and not in a bad way. Thomas Mann as Greg the lead, he's also really good in this movie. I mentioned earlier that he's socially awkward, and I mean really socially awkward. And he plays it really well, he's really convincing, and you feel for him as well. All the characters in this movie also have really good back & forth, the chemistry here is fantastic.
What I love about this movie is how well balanced it is. As I said, this movie deals with the subject of cancer, and I think this movie deserves a lot of credits for handling this topic in a really mature way. It's never too sappy, and it's never a straight up comedy. In fact, even with it's quirky characters and quirky world, this movie has this feeling of being apologetically real. Even better is how well the two themes of comedy and drama are blended, and how high those points are. When this movie is sad, it is downright depressing, and when it's funny, it's hilarious. It can go from a really funny moment to an absolutely heartbreaking one in a second, and the transition is just about seamless.
Final Rating
Really, I had no problems with this movie. I'd say it's the best high school movies I've seen since The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which anyone who knows me knows I love that movie. In fact, I'd say this goes even further than that movie. It's touching when it needs to be, funny when it needs to be, and by the end, downright heartbreaking. Really, regardless of whether or not you like high school movies, I think pretty much everyone should go see this movie. It should come out June 12th, and I highly recommend you see this as soon as possible.
Really, I had no problems with this movie. I'd say it's the best high school movies I've seen since The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which anyone who knows me knows I love that movie. In fact, I'd say this goes even further than that movie. It's touching when it needs to be, funny when it needs to be, and by the end, downright heartbreaking. Really, regardless of whether or not you like high school movies, I think pretty much everyone should go see this movie. It should come out June 12th, and I highly recommend you see this as soon as possible.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
4.7/5
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