Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was nowhere on my radar before Sundance started. Perhaps that’s my fault. I’m terrible at preparing for a film festival like this – it’s impossible for me to read a synopsis and think, “That’s going to be good.” I usually just listen to what others are saying, because when it comes to synopsis reading, I trust other people’s opinions more than I do my own.
Flash forward to mid-festival and now Me and Earl and the Dying Girl has sold to Fox Searchlight for a record amount. It’s, so far, the biggest surprise of the festival. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl wasn’t on my radar because just reading about it made it sound too much like The Fault in Our Stars and we all just saw that movie. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is nothing like The Fault in Our Stars.
The “me” in the title is Greg (Thomas Mann), a nice enough high school student who is not popular, but he’s not an outcast. He enjoys toeing the line in-between all of the different cliques. Greg’s mother (Connie Britton) tells him that his classmate, Rachel (Olivia Cooke), has leukemia and forces Greg to spend time with this girl he barely knows. The “Earl” (RJ Cyler) in the title is Greg’s “co-worker” (the two direct student films together with names such as Vere’d He Go, a homage to Vertigo) and is obviously Greg’s close friend, even though Greg doesn’t like admitting that he has friends.
Here’s the thing: I realize the description of this movie makes it sound really awful. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not a sentimental movie. Greg and Rachel do not fall in love. Greg, who narrates the story, repeatedly tells the audience that Rachel will not die, but I found myself not trusting Greg’s narration, so, for me, Rachel’s fate was still a lingering question.
Director Alfonzo Gomez-Rejon is obviously influenced by the work of Wes Anderson, but the stylization of the film is not over done to the point that it’s distracting or comes off indulgent or cute. Frankly, it just looks cool.
Nick Offerman plays Greg’s father. I mention this so matter-of-factly because usually when Nick Offerman has a supporting role in a film, I’m just waiting for Offerman to come back. Here, Offerman blends in so smoothly – he’s more of a Zen-master of philosophy here than what we’ve seen out of him in other roles – that I often forgot he was in the film and was just pleasantly surprised when he kept popping up.
Again, I promise, this is NOT a sentimental movie – but it does earn some late movie sentiment. There’s a difference.
I’m hesitant to write anymore about Me Earl and the Dying Girl because it’s just such a wonderful experience, I’d hate to give too much away. And with Fox Searchlight buying it, you’ll get a chance to see it sooner rather than later. It’s the type of movie that makes the trip to Sundance worthwhile, and it is my favorite film of the festival to this point.
Mike Ryan has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and New York. He is senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
