Review of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) by Dawdlingpoet — 23 Nov 2021

This is a comedy drama film which covers themes including death, friendship, humiliation and awkwardness. This is a comedy, a quirky comedy but its very much a cringe-enducing form of comedy - a sort of dark comedy very much about social awkwardness, the pitfalls of being less than the all popular guy at the end of high school, i.e. secondary school. There isn't a laughter track or anything like that. It features narration, which is done very much in a blase, whatever, lets just explain this and then I'll move on and get out of your way, kind of a way. It has the feel of an indie cult classic, although I don't honestly remember when I first heard about it but I did enjoy it.

Greg has an interesting hobby, which is making parodies of classic films with who he calls his co-worker Earl, rather than a friend. These are obviously done on a much, much lower budget and we're shown a number of covers for said films, which have quite funny word pun type titles, such as 'Rosemary Baby Carrots', 'Brew Velvet' and 'A Sockwork Orange'. I found the clips of said film parodies quite amusing and endearing to an extent - their made via puppet/stop motion animation styles, think papier mache props and the like.

I felt sorry for Greg, as I can fairly easily remember what its like to feel like an awkward outsider at school, as he's clearly shown to be. It is quite a quirky film and it reminded me a bit of Napolean Dynamite, although the main character isn't as comic and doesn't stand out in the way that the titular character of that film did.

Cast wise, Greg is played by Thomas Mann. He seems pretty much like a regular joe American mid teen. He comes across as relatively apathetic - I'm not sure how else I could describe him. Meanwhile, Earl is played by RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke plays said dying girl Rachel and Molly Shannon plays Denise.

I liked the way the film comes across, with numerous new scenes starting with text across the screen saying the name of that new scene, basically saying what Greg was thinking at that time, such as 'the time Rachel had just started treatment', 'the time I felt so awkward I just had to say something' (as if that only ever happens once, eh?). Content wise, the film features mild sex references and partial nudity. There are instances of mild violence but nothing gorey or graphic is shown as such. There is some swearing and drug reference are also made but otherwise there's little likely to offend people, although obviously the story and themes are pretty sobering and sad. The film has been given a 12 rating due to this.

I think it says something about inevitability - its quite a sobering thought. Its definitely (inevitably) not a laugh out loud hilarious type of a film but I did find some parts amusing, although I accept it won't appeal to everyone. I wouldn't say its entirely a drama film, there is a fair amount of quirkiness present - its a bit hard to describe, other than a quirky indie comedy/drama film.

Some of the music played was surprisingly distinctive.Tracks featured include In Dreams by Roy Orbison, Trouble by Cat Stevens and I'll Come Running by Brian Eno. Some well known classical pieces played include the Ride of the Valkyries and a few piano pieces which I have no idea what their called.

I'd recommend this film, as I found it to be an amusing, quirky, somewhat thought provoking film, one which I imagine quite a few people could relate to. Its an interesting watch, so I'd recommend it on that basis.