Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is a movie that came onto the rental market this week. It caught my attention back in the summer but was never in a cinema near me – not a surprise since ‘near me’ at the moment is in Southern Redneck land where Marvel is considered modern Shakespeare. Fortunately, that will be changing in the near future. In the meantime, I took time to myself and hit up the local Redbox.
The title of the movie pretty well sums up the plot. This is the story of three High School Seniors, one – a guy who skates through life by avoiding engaging with it at all costs – who is forced by his mother to befriend a classmate who contracts cancer. This isn’t the cheeriest of topics but the movie makes it work.
This is a quirky movie from the very opening. But quirky is ‘in’ these days and I found myself at the very start wondering why that is, and why – this is a total writer’s question – first person is making a huge comeback. I’m not complaining about first person regaining its proper place after neglect for so long, there is a lot to be said for it, but why now? Then it dawned on me. Much like the character in this movie, our lives have been made quirky by society. No one relates to society anymore. You might play the game, so to speak, but do you really feel you belong? When you acknowledge that you don’t, first person and quirky come in handy.
The cast does a good job in this and I want to find out their filming schedule because in the last half hour, when there had been a time lapse in the story, the cast came across as looking older. Now was there a pause or did they just leave some makeup off? But it was a nice subtle twist by the director on this project.
Even though ‘quirky’ is the most applicable term for this movie, the pace is consistent. Only one time, toward the end, did I feel the story bogged down a bit but overall, the story moved along at a comfortable clip.
It is simple story with a simple premise. Three high school students are forced to deal with adult decisions and cope with death. There is plenty of awkward humor in this and in some ways it mirrored a Wes Anderson vehicle with its texture. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is definitely worth the rental fee. Quirky, funny, sad, and a slice of life, I give it 4 out of 5.
Jett's Desk 