Review: ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is year’s best movie contender (Includes first-hand account)

While some of the best remembered teen movies are comedies, some of the most resonant narratives have been dramas in which youths are forced to come to terms with some difficult aspect of living beyond the typical adolescent heartbreak. Executed incorrectly and the tale is an overwrought mess of emotions or wholly superficial. Conversely, if done properly, the film will have a lasting impact that affects and stays with audiences. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is an exceptional example of the latter that currently stands as one of the best movies of the year.

Greg (Thomas Mann) plays it safe in most aspects of his young life. At school, he’s made acquaintances in all the major cliques to avoid being bullied by any one and generally tries to stay under the radar. At lunch, he and Earl (RJ Cyler) have lunch in their history teacher’s (Jon Bernthal) office and watch old movies. After school they film short parodies of classic movies, such as “A Sockwork Orange,” “Eyes Wide Butt” and “My Dinner with Andre the Giant.” When Greg’s mother learns his classmate, Rachel (Olivia Cooke), has leukemia, she insists he go over to her house and spend time with her, which goes against everything Greg has tried to create in his life — he doesn’t prescribe to having personal relationships, even referring to Earl as his “co-worker” rather than his best and only friend. However both Greg and Rachel are blindsided by the bond they forge during her treatment.

This is only director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s second feature film and considering the first was a reboot of The Town that Dreaded Sundown, one can’t help but be surprised by the emotional acuity he demonstrates in his sophomore picture. Based on a novel and screenplay by Jesse Andrews, the movie immediately captures audiences with its intriguing characters and relationships. Greg’s parents, played by Nick Offerman and Connie Britton, are peculiar; especially the tenured father who lounges at home with the cat more than he goes to work. Meanwhile, Rachel’s mother (Molly Shannon) is coping with her daughter’s illness with alcohol and awkward conversations with near strangers.

In addition to the production of Rachel’s movie, the mini-movies play a major role in the story. The boys’ adaptations of acclaimed films are hilarious. There are also some great stop-motion animation sequences related to hot girls ruining Greg’s life, which involve a moose and a chipmunk who is obviously at a disadvantage.

The opening two-thirds of the narrative is very light-hearted, sweeping audiences up into this envious friendship in which Greg and Rachel find they are kindred spirits without ever falling into the sappy love story trap. But as with the best and most memorable films about illness, it eventually faces the sadder aspects of her disease that leads to yet another inspiring moment in these characters’ lives.

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Starring: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke

Similar Posts

  • Review: ‘The Gentlemen’ elevates the criminal element (Includes first-hand account)

    The world learned Guy Ritchie‘s name when he casted Brad Pitt in Snatch as a gypsy boxer whose accent was so heavy and English so contorted, he needed subtitles. Though it was only his second feature film, it put him on the map. In addition, that movie and his debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, proved he had a talent for gangster pictures and their dialogue. Then he made a bunch of other movies over the next 20 years, branching off into similar genres and adapting his skills while refining his penchant for action. Now, he’s returned to write, direct and produce a new, original gangster film, The Gentlemen.

  • Review: ‘Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter’ is a blur of fact and fiction (Includes first-hand account)

    Everyone dreams of something better no matter how content they may be in life. It’s the reason the lottery was invented — the promise of an enhanced future no matter how small the odds is enough to keep people coming back week after week. However, for the dissatisfied that wish can be a lifeline; the hope of improvement may be the only thing motivating them to keep going. But what happens if the pipedream is just that — an unattainable fantasy? In Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, a young Japanese woman clings to a goal that she can never achieve.

  • Review: ‘Traders’ deals in humour and extraordinary enterprise (Includes first-hand account)

    Recession, unemployment, bankruptcy and general financial ruin. These are issues impacting people all over the world and there is no easy solution to the problem. As homes and belongings are threatened with foreclosure and repossession, people become desperate to find a way out. With the wolves at the door, even the most radical answer is better than no answer at all. In Traders, one man creates a gateway to an extreme resolution to people’s money troubles — though it doesn’t all go according to his plan.

  • Review: ‘The Humbling’ is a quirky comedy that embraces its insanity (Includes first-hand account)

    It seems the lives of delusional, washed up actors is a popular subject in cinema these days. It’s unfortunate for Al Pacino that Michael Keaton’s Birdman was released first because the comparisons are inevitable and they’re not going to be in favour of his picture. Nevertheless, they are very different types of films. The Humbling is subtler in its character’s hallucinations, confusing reality and fantasy to the point that even the central character and audience don’t know what’s real at all times.

  • Review: ‘The Witch’ is creepy in ways totally unrelated to the title (Includes first-hand account)

    In spite of deep religious beliefs, fear and superstition was arguably an equal if not greater influence on the lives of early settlers. It’s one of the key reasons witch hunts have a significant role in American history. It was simpler to assign responsibility for unexplained and/or devastating events to an evil entity (Devil) or his servant than to endure it without recourse. By ridding themselves of the so-called perpetrator, they presumably remove the possibility of recurrence. In The Witch, an innocent lie snowballs into indefensible condemnation and self-fulfilling prophesy.