Jesse Andrews' screenplay strikes an incredible balance between comedy and drama. Keep an eye out for Matt Bennett's utterly bizarre but hilarious Scott Mayhew as well. Nick Offerman is amazing as Greg's stay at home intellectual dad, and Molly Shannon steals every scene as Rachel's emotionally destroyed mother.
Considering this film has maybe one actor I'd ever heard of, there's a huge pool of talent even in the supporting cast. All I can say is that she is a worth recipient of my annual Patricia Arquette Award For Character I Most Want to Hug. Olivia Cooke makes the audience love her with her quietly devastating portrayal of a girl with leukaemia. RJ Cyler takes Earl, a generic Pedro-type sidekick and makes him just the slacker you'd expect, but with incredible qualities underneath. That's probably the most beautiful part of Gomez- Rejon's direction - he never comes out and beats you with information, he leads you gently to it and makes you realise it yourself. Mann shades what could've been a completely unlikeable protagonist with wonderful colours and depth, so much so that when his friend Earl explains to Rachel why Greg is so averse to being friends, we realise we've actually known the whole time. Imagine that Napoleon Dynamite went to Cady Heron's school from Mean Girls, hated all the clicks and became a cynic. Its got elements of about six of my favourite films of all time, and the fact that it slam dunked Sundance doesn't even surprise me a bit. Its quirky and charming and witty and touching and somber and delicate and completely beautiful. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's film is a beautiful cocktail of wonderful things. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl just scored the fourth slot on that extremely small list. The first was Crash, the second was The Green Mile and the third was Boyhood.
In other films I can appreciate that the film is beautiful and emotional, but there are only four that can really get to me. There are about four films that can overcome the "seen it" cynicism I have, unlock my heart and make me feel genuine feelings.
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