Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the second full length feature film from director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is the anti John Hughes coming of age high school story. It has a quirky sensibility about it and some truly hilarious moments. It doesn't take itself seriously at all and it does everything in can to relay that to you the viewer. For that and a few other reasons I give Me and Earl and the Dying Girl three and a half buckets of Killer Korn.













I haven't seen Alfonso's previous other film, The Town the Dreaded Sundown but I have seen some of his TV work and maybe you have too. He's directed eight episodes of Glee and while there is no singing and dancing in Dying Girl, it is about high school so I would say this subject matter is well within his wheelhouse. Based on the book of the same title by Jesse Andrews, Dying Girl pretty much gives all the suspense and drama away in said title. What makes this wannabee Wes Anderson film so entertaining and worth watching are the performances. Greg, played by Thomas Mann is forced into being friends with the dying girl Rachel, played by Olivia Cooke. Greg's best friend is Earl, played by relative newcomer RJ Cyler. Connie Britton plays Greg's mom, Molly Shannon is exquisite as Denise, Rachel's lonely and heartbroken mother. Nick Offerman plays Greg's droll dad,  Jon Bernthal plays the rebellious but caring english teacher Mr. McCarthy and Katherine C. Hughes plays Madison, the untouchable girl in Greg's muddled mind.

The cast is perfect as far as the story goes and the performances are pitch perfect. When Greg's mother finds out that her friend Denise's daughter Rachel has cancer she immediately guilts her son into going over to their house to hang out. Greg has finally figured out high school as a senior and sees himself breezing through his last year as long as he can stay "invisible". That plan goes to shit when Rachel is diagnosed. He really only knows Rachel in passing and would normally not be caught dead speaking to her. Not because he thinks he's too good for her but because that would make him visible, and visibility makes you a target in high school. At least according to Greg's philosophy which is why he never eats lunch in the cafeteria. He instead chooses to eat with Earl in Mr. McCarthy's office. Greg eventually befriends Rachel and their relationship is doomed from the start (so says the movie). Soon Earl is introduced into the mix and suddenly everyone at school knows about Greg and Rachel's friendship, invisibility be damned. Greg reveals to Rachel that he and Earl are auteurs of about forty plus really bad movie remakes. When comes from that is movie gold.

As I said earlier, Dying Girl is the anti John Hughes high school movie. No disrespect to Hughes but he would have taken this story where Alfonso refused to go, even making fun of the predictable nature of movies produced these days. Instead it stays the course of real friendship and even though you are lied to throughout the film, you forgive it because you know what's going to happen no matter how much you hope for something different. Visually again, it's style is very reminiscent of Wes Anderson and with music by Brian Eno and Nico Muhly it's well suited for the odd nature of the movie. Dying Girl is part high school comedy, part tearjerker, and completely life affirming. In my opinion it is worth the price of admission so I recommend Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and I'll see you at the theater.