Watch Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
- PG-13
- 2015
- 1 hr 44 min
-
7.7 (139,844)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a 2015 coming-of-age drama/comedy film directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Jesse Andrews. The movie is a witty, heartwarming, and emotionally resonant story about friendship, loss, and figuring out who you are. The story focuses on Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), a senior in high school who is trying to navigate the tricky waters of adolescence while keeping a low profile. He is a self-described "socially invisible" student who is too afraid to put himself out there and make real connections with his peers. Instead, he spends most of his free time making parody movies with his best friend and part-time accomplice Earl (RJ Cyler).
Throughout the film, we learn more about Greg's life at school, his relationships with his family and friends, and his struggle to find his place in the world. But the main plot revolves around Greg's unlikely friendship with a classmate named Rachel (Olivia Cooke), who has just been diagnosed with leukemia.
At first, Greg reluctantly agrees to hang out with Rachel at the behest of his mother, who hopes he can lift her spirits during her treatments. But as time goes on, Greg and Rachel begin to bond over their shared love of classic movies and their mutual understanding of what it's like to feel like an outsider. Together, they navigate the ups and downs of Rachel's illness, all while trying to make sense of their own lives.
What makes Me and Earl and the Dying Girl stand out from other teen dramas is its unique sense of humor and its refusal to fall into cliches. The movie is packed with witty one-liners, clever references to classic films, and a general sense of whimsy that keeps the story from ever becoming too heavy-handed. Despite its subject matter, the movie never feels overly sentimental or manipulative; rather, it's a thoughtful and nuanced examination of what it means to face mortality at a young age.
One of the standout performances in the movie comes from Olivia Cooke, who plays Rachel with a quiet grace and vulnerability. She is never reduced to a mere plot device or an object of pity; instead, she is a fully realized character with her own joys, fears, and quirks. Likewise, Thomas Mann does an excellent job of conveying the complexities of Greg's personality, showing us both his sarcastic wit and his deep-seated insecurities. And RJ Cyler steals just about every scene he's in as Earl, Greg's loyal and irreverent best friend.
One of the film's other strengths is its visual style, which is both inventive and vibrant. The movie employs a number of different camera angles, editing techniques, and visual motifs to help convey the story's themes and emotions. For instance, there are a number of clever montages throughout the movie that show Greg and Earl's various movie projects, each with its own unique style and flavor.
Overall, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a powerful and moving film that manages to be both hilarious and heart-wrenching in equal measure. It's a movie about friendship, creativity, and the bittersweet beauty of life, and it's sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who watches it.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a 2015 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 44 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.7 and a MetaScore of 74.