I didn’t know a great deal about this film except that it had the words ‘Dying Girl’ in the title, which can’t be a good sign.

However, one thing I was aware of is that this film was also extremely well received at the Sundance Film Festival, winning both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury prize. Which is why there was no surprise that the films screening resulting in a standing ovation!

So out of curiosity I had to give this potential weepie a chance.

Wimbledon Times:

The film focuses on the three main characters mentioned in the title who all attend the same Pittsburgh High School, each one in their senior year. But the story is driven by Greg (superbly played by Thomas Mann) who is told by his overbearing Mother (Connie Britton) that a girl in his year, Rachel Kusner, (Olivia Cooke) has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.

Greg’s Mum wants him to visit Rachel and make her feel better by cheering her up as her friend. Despite Greg trying to explain to his Mum that him and Rachel were really only acquaintances and were not that close. He realised that his Mother was not going to let this drop and he gives in and agrees to go and see Rachel.

Rachel is shocked that Greg came over and tells him that she doesn’t want his pity. In a surprising twist, Greg comes clean and admits that he is only there because his Mother made him visit and he thinks she should cut him some slack with his honesty.

Wimbledon Times:

Rachel relents and allows him to come up to her room but on the way he has to negotiate Rachel’s lush of a Mother (Molly Shannon) who greets Greg with an overly friendly hug and kiss in a Mrs Robinson manner.

Within minutes Greg makes Rachel laugh with his odd self-loathing sense of humour and they form a strong bond and very tight friendship.

Greg’s only other friend is Earl Jackson (played by a relative new comer R J Cyler) who he has known since kindergarten. As Earls family reside in the poorer side of town Earl spent much of his youth at Greg’s house where the pair of them were introduced to whole new experience of watching classic movies screened by Greg’s eccentric Dad (Nick Offerman).Wimbledon Times:

The boys were so enthralled by these old film screenings that it inspired them to make their own parodies of them where they would produce, direct and act out some hilarious scenarios. To date they made over 40 films each with a clever play on words in their titles such as ‘A Sockwork Orange’ and ‘Senior Citizen Kane’.

Wimbledon Times:

One of Rachel’s friends suggest that the boys or co-workers, make a special film just for Rachel.

This Movie is an adaptation of a first time novel of the same name written by Jesse Andrews who also wrote the screenplay. Thomas Mann who plays the main protagonist Greg, has created a very likeable character and does a great job of making Greg identifiable across different age groups amongst the audience.

I liked the way director Alfonso Gomez- Rejon lets Greg narrate the unfolding story, sometimes accompanied with the occasional title text introducing some of the scenes. Also watch out for a surreal voice cameo from a very famous actor scolding Greg for mocking Rachel in her room.

Wimbledon Times:

I wasn’t expected to laugh as much as I did (a few times out loud) and I felt a little guilty in regards to what could be described as a risky subject matter.

Olivia Cooke makes you want to hug her character Rachel, who is suffering with this awful cancer. And she has these big doe eyes and the actress reminded me of a cross between Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci.

R J Cyler’s character, Earl acts as though he has the hard shell of a streetwise teenager but has really has a heart of gold underneath and is a good friend to Greg.

Wimbledon Times:

There are a couple of smaller roles which have stand out characters, notably Mr McCarthy the cool High School History teacher played by The Walking Dead’s John Bernthal and Greg’s stay-at-home Dad who practically lives in a dressing gown with a penchant for eating strange and unusual food dishes which he also makes for the boys.

Wimbledon Times:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl will no doubt be compared to last year’s sleeper hit The Fault in Our Stars (2014). Hopefully this film will gain the same status through word of mouth because the trailers are pretty awful and show a poor reflection of how uplifting and funny it really is.

I thoroughly recommend that you see this film as it’s probably not what you are expecting.

A Foker On Film thumbs up

Wimbledon Times: