Oh yeah! Hell yes! After reading so many reviews of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, I discovered that it was a very divisive film with people either loving it or hating it. Now guess which side I fall down on. C'mon guys if you've read any of my reviews, you'll know I fucking loved this. So Me and Earl is about Greg, and Earl (the Me and Earl), two invisible high school kids who befriend a girl who has leukemia (aka the Dying Girl or Rachel). That's kind of the basis for the plot, and while that does sound conventional, the film refuses to be. It achieves this mainly in it's style and hidden complexity. On the surface, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a funny movie with a great script that literally almost had me dying of laughter (though that also might be attributed to the actors having perfect comedic timing), but when analyzed a little deeper, you can find a cocktail of emotion, and an odd amount of complexity for a high school movie. It almost seems as if this is what Terrance Malick would do with a high school film with a good amount of poetry, and deeper themes thrown into the mix for good measure other than the dialogue. Though, it does help that the dialogue and jokes are a lot of the time quite scathing as far as the whole cancer thing goes. Me and Earl is determined to say something, and wants to do it creatively. This is no The Fault in Our Stars though (Even though I fucking love The Fault in Our Stars). This is not everything being tied up with a nice little bow. This is a film that is honest, and the emotions that come with that, as well as the complexity, enhance even the funnier moments. However that's not the only thing that allows Me and Earl and the Dying Girl to be special. The writing is incredible, the actors are incredible, but honestly what almost made the movie for me was the direction. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is going to be one of the the new masters. He stages his films much like Wes Anderson, focussing on really lovely symmetrical camera angles that lead a film geek, like me, to lose his shit. It's invigorating as anything you will see all year. But then again, the film does seem imperfect, but I feel that this is possibly because of the complex themes under the surface of the film. There's a moment in any dramedy when all the thin veneer of it's hilarity falls away, and usually there's nothing really left. Me and Earl has the complexities, and poetry to fall back on. Now that's actually kind of a plus. The film has something to fall back on, but there's a difference between comedy that is very teenage type with a little darkness and philosophy mixed it, and then transferring to earth shattering and poetic cancer drama. I mean, at least it does fall back on that, and it's all executed pretty well, but it's all a little sloppy. With a less talented cast and crew, this honestly could have taken down the movie, but as I mentioned before that doesn't happen. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a really good movie, and one that I would highly recommend. I give Me and Earl and the Dying Girl a 9 out of 10.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |