He refers to Earl, instead, as a "co-worker." Coming Soon. This is not a film full of sanitised, model teenagers played by people in their 30s - it's a film made to resonate with people the age of its protagonists, at least in its approach to their interaction. Fortunately, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not one of these films; instead it overcomes its early snarkiness to end up as surprisingly tender. Rachel has agency here too, having to deal with her illness in a way which is stoical while still true to who she really is. I know that. On the whole, the movie is funnier, more sardonic, more artsy (with all its movie remakes), and less saccharine than TFIOS, so it does have that going for it. The film has received positive reviews from critics. He may essentially be paraphrasing or pastiching Cinema Paradiso in this regard; the sequence before Rachel falls into a coma uncannily follows the beats in the final twenty minutes of Giuseppe Tornatore's work. This overbearing desire to be different (whether it's un-Hollywood or un-anything else) is present in spades in the opening ten minutes of Me and Earl; its turned-up-nose voiceover is almost enough to make you shut the whole thing off. Interview: Cooper Raiff Talks Shithouse, Nostalgia, and Being There for Others. If you were a teenage girl dying of cancer, with a group of supportive friends already, a terrified mother, and a unique artistic sensibility of your own (which we discover later), how would you like to spend your last months on earth? comedy, June 10, 2016 Its teenagers feel like real teenagers, and the moments in which they irritate older viewers (like myself) is in a way testament to the strength of their characterisation. Where Me and Earl begins to score points in a more universal fashion is in its treatment of Rachel's illness. Besides, such commentary has been done before, and it's been done much better. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl deserves to be the summer’s sleeper hit. I'd actually like to know. Cowboy." Gomez-Rejon directs assuredly, balancing his life of his chosen art form with a desire to keep the characters at the centre, and he is ably complimented by a trio of good performances from his three leads. Survive without creating any mortal enemies or hideously embarassing yourself forever. I can handle the truth. Why is Me and Earl and the Dying Girl rated PG-13? The camera-work is energetic, albeit a bit too artificial and showy (placing heads over on the side of the frame for no real reason). Please click the link below to receive your verification email. Other than that acquisitive movie-mad mindset, it is a pandering, self-flattering mess, featuring unearned catharsis, lazy clichés and characters presented in broad, sometimes-offensive stereotypes. You know, their life. A great movie that shines in pretty much everything, from its charming approach to the highly effective demystifying humor. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a tender and charming independent effort which overcomes its irritating opening to leave us genuinely moved. Endearing film about an awkward high school misfit, his friend who makes amateur movies with him, and, well, a dying girl who he begins visiting at the request of his mother. Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Don't have an account? By making filmmaking such a focal point of the story - or at least, such a prominent means of moving the plot forward - Gomez-Rejon makes a point about just how emotionally powerful storytelling and narrative memory can be. Like Julianne Moore's character in Still Alice, Rachel deteriorates gradually and at her own pace, so that all the down turns feel authentically sad and the brief moments of hope and life are all the more radiant. The problem is the lead character: he's a miserable bastard with no right to be miserable who continues to be miserable even when he meets someone who has a right to be miserable but isn't. I guess everyone's trying to figure out how to like, twerk....medievally. | Rating: 5/5 and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. Rachel is confused as to why Greg is there, annoyed even, and Greg begs to be allowed to hang out with her, just for one day, so he can report back to his mother. Almost every note rings true, and the characters are far from idealized, expressing the difficult emotions of growing up as well as dealing with cancer. |, August 5, 2019 "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" perfectly synthesizes Wes Anderson and John Hughes's filmic tones, earnestly gutpunches the audience's collective heart with honest pathos, and achieves a bullseye in the follow-through of nearly every joke … Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. What's his take? Max Weiss, writing in Baltimore Magazine, summed up her review by saying: "Rachel's dying isn't really about Rachel at all. They talk. But while Anderson used it as the basis for an off-puttingly clinical study of his characters, Gomez-Rejon uses it to promote what good qualities his young leads have. Iffy stuff includes masturbation references and Earl, the main characters best friend says "titties" frequently. Coming Soon. There's no romance between the confused guy and the dying girl. | Rating: B+ Invoking the example of Gus van Sant's Restless, I said that "if the film is about, say, a cancer patient, the patient will look as healthy and as well-fed as any member of the cast before suddenly declining in the final reel and popping their clogs." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 81%, based on 211 reviews, with an average of 7.57/10. Review: Honest Thief Is a Dried-Out Rehash of the Liam Neeson Actioner. Don’t worry, it won’t take long. Earl is another problem. I enjoyed the plot of following Greg a socially awkward teen through an unexpected tragedy with Rachel, a girl he thought he'd never be friends with. Greg does not even know Rachel, but he shows up at her house, and is immediately lusted over by Rachel's boozy mother (Molly Shannon), who answers the door with a drink in her hand, cooing about who is this "delicious," "yummy" young man. The image is an example of a ticket confirmation email that AMC sent you when you purchased your ticket. Some other pretty glaring character development holes are Earl's and Madison's. Has Greg seen/touched the "titties" yet? Equally, Greg's distance from Rachel is not just temporal, it is emotional; he cannot comprehend the right thing to say with confronted by something so serious, because pretending and being flippant is all he knows. Your Ticket Confirmation # is located under the header in your email that reads "Your Ticket Reservation Details". The book Me earl and the dying girl by Jesse Andrews is a perfect read for someone who likes a humorous and somewhat sad story. | Rotten (40). If you grew up, as I did, watching old black-and-white movies on a local television channel, then you know the experience of learning young that there is a whole world of movies outside the ones shown at the multiplex. Five stars for this Great Film. |, December 31, 2015 Learning to live in the world, to recognize that others exist, that your actions have consequences, is a part of growing up. [Full Review in Spanish]. The percentage of Approved Tomatometer Critics who have given this movie a positive review. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a must-see for moviegoers who aren't afraid to find joy and self-reflection in the story of a dying girl. I am by no means the first reviewer to have carped about this tendency of Hollywood, which has led many a cinema patron to abandon the mainstream and seek out how the independent film scene deals with death. Me and earl and the dying girl This book is kinda depressing nothing interesting really happens Rachel and Greg do not become lovers it is like a way less romantic, less touching, less excellent, version of the fault in our stars this book was good but not great. Actually, the movie is pretty tame compared to the book (a lot less profanity and sexual directness). I'm dying. The percentage of users who rated this 3.5 stars or higher. When I reviewed The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I complained that the film's characters were "frustratingly smug", with writer-director Stephen Chbosky going to great (and clunky) lengths to prove how well-versed he was about music and teenagers. That line mentioned earlier, "Please appreciate how honest I just was," sums up the systemic problems with "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl." Or, rather, Greg talks, and she listens. “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is about growing up, facing death, making and losing friends and other rites of passage, but it’s also, and more … One scene, a tense argument between Rachel and Greg, plays out in one long take and it's the only time in the film when something real is actually allowed to exist, because in such a scene it is about the behavior, the silences between the words, the sense you get that two actors are actually creating something before your eyes. It's about Greg. But the tragedy that awaits or doesn’t, at the culmination point is going to leave your mind impassioned with emotions. A young boy is forced to become friends with a dying girl in his school in a huge 2015 Sundance film. "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", tác phẩm ăn khách của Sundance (đoạt cả Giải Khán giả và Giải Ban giám khảo lớn), do Alfonso Gomez-Rejon đạo diễn , với kịch bản của , dựa trên cuốn tiểu thuyết bán chạy And, despite the heavy subject matter, the dialog is fresh and funny, and the amateur movies the kids make are very clever twists on classic films, which injects lightness into the film. You know, I'm terminally awkward and I have a face like a little groundhog. You're almost there! He and Earl grew up watching movies like Werner Herzog's "Aguirre The Wrath of God", Truffaut's "The 400 Blows," Powell and Pressberger's "Tales of Hoffmann," and spend their free time as teenagers making their own movies, spoofs of the greats with titles like "The 400 Bros," "The Sockwork Orange," and "2:48 p.m. In re Madison: she's a nice-hot girl, and Greg is the stand-in for every "nice-insecure guy" who resents the "friendzone." |, January 10, 2020 Sundance Film Review: ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ Enthusiastically received at Sundance, this cancer-themed dramedy has the potential to outperform last year's 'The Fault in Our Stars.' Fortunately, the film very quickly abandons this approach and settles into a pleasant rhythm which is offbeat without drawing attention to itself. No, I don't think that. In my review of Still Alice, I complained about the way that Hollywood films often depict life-threatening illness, seeking to preserve the glamour of the actor or actress in question rather than trying to capture a believable portrayal of whatever disease they may have. The PG-13 rating is for sexual content, drug material, language and some thematic elements. There are moments that flash with humor, like Greg filling out his college application in the voice of Werner Herzog. The vantage point - the misfit and not the dying girl - apparently rubs some people the wrong way, but I found it to be part of the movie's truth. For no other reason, apparently, he lives in squalor on a terrifying-looking street of derelict houses, overrun by weeds, and has a scary aggressive brother with a pit bull. Jun 12, 2015. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. Olivia Cooke does give a beautiful strong-and-detached performance though. Rachel has one moment of whimsy when she mimics Greg's "subhuman" convulsions, but it's so early on, and we don't really see her transcend beyond Greg's erstwhile categorization of her as "Boring Jewish Girl Subset 2A" until the end, I guess, when her book sculptures reveal her romantic, creative, perhaps even tortured side, but even that emotional epiphany is more Greg's. It can keep unfolding itself to you just as long... just as long as you pay attention to it. How does he feel about the films they watch? The enthusiasm between Greg and Earl as they create their little bits of cinema feels genuine because it reflects the director's own passion, without any of the artificiality that J. J. Abrams displayed on Super 8. It's quirky, charming, witty, touching, somber, delicate, and completely beautiful. The post-modern technique of drawing attention to Hollywood cliché to make a point about how un-Hollywood your story is has long started to grate, whether it's in a visual motif or a line delivered by the characters. Latest news about Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, starring Connie Britton, Nick Offerman, Jon Bernthal and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Their confrontation towards the end of the film is a tearing down of emotional walls, releasing anger and compassion that neither character entirely knew that they were capable of feeling. Rachel's dying isn't really about Rachel at all. Somewhere along the way Earl eases up on the suburban-Wes Anderson whimsy and starts to find its heart, infusing the story's self-conscious cleverness and trick-shot set pieces with something sweeter, sadder, and even a little bit profound. This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. | Rating: 2.5/4 Best Netflix Shows and Series To Binge (January 2021), The 100 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now (January 2021), 100 Best Movies on Amazon Prime To Watch (January 2021). It isn't a Hollywood treatment of illness, with all the edges taken off, but neither does it try to be edgy or radical by shoving her symptoms down our throats in a desperate bid to induce empathy through shock. (This is also a cliché: the black sidekick understanding more about matters of the heart than the white lead.). There are still familiar touches in both the narrative decisions and their presentation to the audience, but the film is more settled and mature with regard to them, calmly acknowledging and almost embracing its lineage rather than spitting in their face like a hypocritical, snot-nosed punk. Me and Earl And the Dying Girl gets a lot of backlash while books like John Green's Fault in Our Stars are praised. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy At one point he says, "Please appreciate how honest I just was." Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a tender and charming independent effort which overcomes its irritating opening to leave us genuinely moved. Coming Soon. and the Terms and Policies, Coming Soon, Regal He's the one who gets to judge her motives as controlling or disingenuous or oblivious when there's no backing for such projections since her motives are never made clear from a storytelling angle in the first place. This sets Me and Earl and the Dying Girl apart as a story of friendship, not one of romantic love. Other than that acquisitive movie-mad mindset, it is a pandering, self-flattering mess, featuring unearned catharsis, … What you get with Me and Earl is a handful of teenage relationships which are driven by an inability to communicate in a meaningful way. There are a couple of issues with the film, besides its snarky opening, which prevent from being a total success. The other nice touch to the film is the role of the adults, who are just as emotionally inept as their offspring if not sometimes slightly worse. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl offers a very accessible, honest, and humorous look at not only how someone deals with being diagnosed with cancer, but it also turns the clichés of the coming-of-age story on its nose, and the people behind this film are able to do that by finding the perfect balance between drama and comedy within this unfortunate tragedy. "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," the baffling Sundance hit (it won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize), directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, with a script by Jesse Andrews, based on his best-selling novel, features two teenage characters obsessed with the Great Movies. The way that all the adults seem either apathetic towards the kids' plight or dealing with it in all the wrong ways pushes us towards Greg, Earl and Rachel, if nothing else to give us comfort that we may deal with a similar situation in a better fashion. In "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," the "girl" of the title devotes the ending stretch of her life into making a young guy she never knew before feel good about himself and his artistic pursuits. A valid answer to that statement would be, "No. We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future. Me and Earl may not be the most groundbreaking film in its treatment of this condition of modern youth, but it is among the more honest and naturalistic offerings in this field. Parents need to know that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is an irreverent, heartfelt, thoughtful, and very funny dramedy based on the same-named book by Jesse Andrews. Check out the trailer of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl here: The Observer Drama films Me and Earl and the Dying Girl review – clever take on tragicomic teen narrative What might have been the mawkish tale of a geek getting to know a leukaemia … Review: This Is Not a Movie Is a Smart, Clear-Eyed Tribute to Robert Fisk. The spectacularly poignant ending, complete with growth, insight, and truth, will rip you apart and just as rebuild you. [This is a re-post of my Me and Earl and the Dying Girl review from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," the baffling Sundance hit (it won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize), directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, with a script by Jesse Andrews, based on his best-selling novel, features two teenage characters obsessed with the Great Movies. All rights reserved. Who is Earl? For one it doesn't romanticize cancer. One last thing. Sign up here. You would certainly find its hard to argue that Greg isn't the central protagonist, or that his arc is the one which develops the most over the course of the film - the clue, after all, is in the title. sexual content, drug material, language and some thematic elements, Spike Lee Receives American Cinematheque Award, America Has to Come to a Reckoning: Director Sam Pollard on MLK/FBI, The TV Homages of WandaVision are an Amusing, Unfulfilling Distraction. All three leads - Thomas Mann, R.J. Cyler, and Olivia Cooke - turn in strong performances, and while the movie could easily be cloying or derivative of countless others with this sort of subject, it somehow avoids all that. | Top Critics (56) Sometimes, I think it's easier for actors to bawl uncontrollably than to try to NOT cry, and Cooke's big eyes well up for the duration of several, long uncut shots, but they never overflow. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's film is a beautiful mix of wonderful things. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! One of Greg's narrations mentions how despite their disparate socioeconomic backgrounds, they still have the same taste in films and adventurous foods, and I was hoping there would be more to Earl's character/upbringing/aspirations and Greg's perception of him that could foil his knee-jerk obsession of typing all the other cliques at his school. There's a laziness at work in "Me and Earl," a reliance on well-trod ground and over-chewed cultural tropes, and perhaps it is supposed to be that way (these are kids who see everything through the lens of their movie-watching), but it still doesn't work.