Review of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) by Colin S — 07 Jul 2015

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl follows a teenage boy as he tries to move quietly through high school without really being noticed when he forms a strong friendship with a girl recently diagnosed with leukemia.

Now this was the big breakout film from Sundance and now I can finally see why! First off, the acting here was really great, especially from RJ Cyler as Earl and Jon Bernthal as the kid's teacher, but Olivia Cooke as the "dying girl" completely stole the show! I originally saw her in Bates Motel where she was really good but here she is downright amazing for how she captures the pain and anguish people in her situation go through.

The direction was really good here and also the production design was very noteworthy and gave the film a very unique look and feel. Now it wasn't until about the second half of the film that I really started to dig the movie since I thought the beginning felt a little awkward with some of the main character, Greg's dialogue feeling kinda pretentious and I found it really hard to connect to him.

But then the second half kicked in and he got a lot more relatable and the ending was extremely powerful with Greg's character finally coming full circle. My only other complaint was that there are some scenes and characters that just feel underdeveloped and out of place.

But other than that, this was a really great movie with a touching story about friendship with absolutely stellar acting and direction. I'm gonna give Me and Earl and the Dying Girl an 8/10.