7/10

A Uniquely charasmatic yet tragically somber film that explores a fresh dimension of teenage awkwardness decades after John Hughes perfected the craft. Winner of the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is the story of Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), an awkward high school senior searching for meaning during a time deemed “The Best years of his life”, whose mom forces him to spend time with Rachel. She is a quiet girl in his class (Olivia Cooke) with whom he hasn’t spoken to since kindergarten,who was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. As their friendship grows, Greg finds it harder to suppress the anger and sadness inside as a result of his decaying friend. The film is adapted from a novel of the same name, and one of the many creative artistic touches to the film makes it feel like a novel that we are watching play out before our very eyes. Many scenes are divided and named into quirky little chapters to remind the audience that this isn’t your same old cancer film. I really enjoyed that this film refused to be placed into cliches with it’s predictable ending, instead it infuses colorful animation to make the backgrounds of the film really pop, as well as experimental camera technique reminiscent of a young Wes Anderson. The cast is perfect, led by a coming out party for Cooke. She is someone who has gotten cast in some pretty forgettable roles in even more forgettable films, but it’s in Alfonso Gomes-Rejon’s (American Horror Story) direction that she finally is rewarded a character to show off her real range. Her diminishing features is just one of many ways that the film tugs at the heartstrings of it’s audience, and the movie’s tasteful comedic personalities do not prepare us for the dramatic overswing coming for Rachel. I also greatly enjoyed Mann in the film’s central protagonist role. Thomas (like Cooke) is also given his first role to expand his actors wings. There’s a lot going on inside Greg’s head and it all feels like a volcano of emotions ready to blow. The film is also blessed with a great supporting cast that includes the likes of veteran comedic talents like Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, and the dry humor prodigy that is Nick Offerman. If i had a critique for the film, it would come in a third act that sort of forgets Rachel. The movie is kind of always about her, but i was confused during a noticable twenty minute absence in which so much happened to her decaying state. We also have a lack of mother/daughter moments between Rachel and her only parent. I think more scenes like that and less about Greg at school could’ve done wonders in showing the emotions of the person who has spent the most time with Rachel since the day she was born. The film is smart in that it focuses on the friendship of Greg and Rachel, and refuses to turn this into just another love story. I greatly appreciated this fact, and the movie is plenty a tearjerker without any romantic feelings being thrown into the fray. Overall, ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is a hard to hate film for the female audience, but made even more surprising by the fact that there’s enough here for the males to appreciate. It’s a movie that shows us that we learn the most about the ones we love when their hearts stop beating.