Review of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) by Byron B — 17 Nov 2015

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon has directed a few episodes of the TV series Glee. The same quirky feel comes across in this adaptation of the young adult novel. High schoolers and adults move and talk in a similar fashion in this world.

The title refers to Greg (Mann) and Earl (Cyler) and Rachel (Cooke). The three leads are good at keeping your attention, but there are some scenes that are a little slow. Greg and Earl's cheap classic movie parodies are pretty humorous, but the heart of the film is about the loner kid recognizing that forming a lasting friendship and acting in the interest of that other person is well worth the effort even though we all face losing that good friend at some point.

The story of awkward teens who will likely grow up to be awkward adults pulled me in and kept me entertained. The story cheekily suggests that this movie will not end like all those other films about tragic dying teens, of course I shouldn't have let a movie with this title fool me, but it did for awhile.

This is a solid entry in the teen sub-genre for this new generation.