Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Based on the hit  novel by the same title, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a rather intriguing and unique comedy that most people probably missed this summer. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival a few months ago, Me and Earl was met with widespread praise, with many calling it potentially the best screening at this year's sleepy festival. Although appearing rather cliche and un-original on the outside and in description, it revives itself through some incredibly humorous writing and unique cinematography. It's laugh out loud funny and pulls great emotion, yet still managed to fly over the heads of audiences.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the story of a self-loathing, awkward American teen named Greg who thinks he's found the secret to blending in, his relationship with a cancerous girl, Rachel, and his co-worker Earl, whom he makes spoof films with. The narrative (voiced by Greg) explains to us throughout the film that he does not want us to view this story as "oh-another-cancer-story", that Rachel lives, and that we shouldn't worry because everything somehow works out in the end. Poking fun at stereotypical works and diseased-romance stories, Greg convinces us for an hour and a half that we can trust him... but the ending seemingly comes as a pretty big shocker... no spoilers here.

Poising fun at the American teen culture, the film hilariously over-exemplifies the stereotypes and awkward nature of school, fitting in, and dealing with problems. All in all, Me and Earl remained true to it's word through the majority of it's runtime and strayed away from becoming the 'cliche cancer story', yet the last 15 minutes of the film somehow flip the entire purpose. When the truth is revealed at the end, Greg explains himself, and the faults work themselves out, we're left with exactly what they convinced us it wouldn't be - a cancer story. And a rather cliche one at that.


In the end what we're left with is a film which convinces us to listen to it's hilarious story by telling us things will be okay; that it's not what we think. By doing this, we've payed close attention to the plot and fascinating visuals, getting a deeper grasp on the charm of the story as a whole. It's a truly one-of-a-kind work, and I'd highly recommend taking a look!

Released 2015