Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Hollywood has a vast history of producing rites of passage films, and more pointedly, comedic ones at that. What with the likes of "E.T: The Extra Terrestrial", "Stand by Me", "The Goonies", "Home Alone", "Lars and the Real Girl, "Juno", the upcoming "Paper Towns", etc., the list goes on and on. So when I saw the trailer of "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", I just knew it would be a great vehicle for yet more young people going through a rites of passage situation.

Seventeen-year-old Greg (Thomas Mann) has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school, of course superficially, without having any friends except his one friend/co-worker, Earl (RJ Cyler) whom he's known since they were young kids. But his life changes when Greg's mother (Connie Britton) forces him to befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a girl he had an acquaintance with in Hebrew school who now has contracted leukemia. He reluctantly decides to visit this girl or his mom will nag him mercilessly. As he gets to know her more, he surprisingly finds her witty, and genuinely real as opposed to most people in his life he has and does routinely encounter. So, which one needs the help--the girl with a life-threatening disease or the guy who's self-deprecating, modest to a fault, exuding a lack a confidence that would make a raving optimist turn sour?

Others to round out the cast are Nick Offerman as Greg's Dad, Molly Shannon as Denise, Rachel's Mom, Jon Bernthal as Mr. McCarthy, Greg and Earl's teacher, Katherine C. Hughes as Madison, Matt Bennett as Scott Mayhew, Masam Holden as Ill Phil, Bobb'e Thompson as Derrick, Gavin Dietz as Young Greg and Edward DeBruce III as Young Earl.

This was quirkily directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon ("The Town That Dreaded Sundown" '14) plus TV. Considering this guy's primary experience is that of TV, this was directed with razor-sharp, very subtle wit and a presence from his actors that was both compelling and real as these two, specifically were finding their way in coming to know one another. It was written by Jesse Andrews based on his novel. Usually I find that most films written by its novelist are far too long and ends up getting bogged down it too much development than the premise warrants, but with the exception of the fact that there are a couple of slow spots in script, this was written with conciseness and presented in an extremely powder dry sense of humor--so dry that some of the lines might come across as serious, even though this was part drama, hence the dryness. The chemistry between Mann and Cooke was refreshing and they did connect very well. The drollness of Mann's character, Greg was depressing, but he certainly has his moments of hilarity. Teenage angst, you gotta love it. 

As rites of passage films go, this rocked! And the teen angst between these two, although were very different, still had the similarities that makes teens stick together through thick or thin. Hey, after all, teenagers are teenagers no matter what they are going through.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                    Rated: PG-13                                  105mins.