Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

2015
PG-13
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

141K

YOUR RATING

Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, and RJ Cyler in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

Greg is a high school senior who avoids deep human relationships as a way to safely navigate the social mine field that is teenage life. In fact he describes his best friend Earl, with whom he makes short-film parodies of classic movies, as being 'more like a co-worker'. But when Greg's mum insists he spends time with Rachel -- a girl in his class who has just been diagnosed with cancer -- Greg discovers just how powerful and important true friendship can be.

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Dark Comedy Comedy Drama

High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been d... Read allHigh schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

141K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 18 wins & 30 nominations

Trivia
The parody movies made by Greg and Earl, include:

-1. Anatomy of a Burger (Anatomy of a Murder (1959)) -2. Ate 1/2 (Of My Lunch) (8½ (1963)) -3. A Box O'Lips, Wow (Apocalypse Now (1979)) -4. The Battle of All Deer (The Battle of Algiers (1966)) -5. Breathe Less (Breathless (1960)) -6. Brew Vervet (Blue Velvet (1986)) -7. Burden of Screams (Burden of Dreams (1982)) -8. Can't Tempt (Contempt (1963)) -9. Crouching Housecat, Hidden Housecat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)) -10. Death in Tennis (Death in Venice (1971)) -11. My Dinner with André the Giant (My Dinner with Andre (1981)) -12. Don't Look Now, Because a Creepy-Ass Dwarf is About to Kill You!!! Damn. (Don't Look Now (1973)) -13. Eyes Wide Butt (Eyes Wide Shut (1999)) -14. Hairy, Old, and Mod (Harold and Maude (1971)) -15. La Gelee (La Jetée (1962)) -16. Gone with My Wind (Gone with the Wind (1939)) -17. Gross Encounters of the Turd Kind (Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)) -18. Grumpy Cul-de-sacs (Mean Streets (1973)) -19. It's a Punderful Life (It's a Wonderful Life (1946)) -20. The Janitor of Oz (The Wizard of Oz (1939)) -21. The Lady Manishness (The Lady Vanishes (1938)) -22. Monorash (Rashomon (1950)) -23. My Best Actor is Also a Dangerous Lunatic (My Best Fiend (1999)) -24. Nose Ferret 2 (Nosferatu (1922)) -25. Pittsburghasqatsi (Koyaanisqatsi (1982)) -26. Pooping Tom (Peeping Tom (1960)) -27. The Prunes of Wrath (The Grapes of Wrath (1940)) -28. Raging Bullsh*t (Raging Bull (1980)) -29. Rear Wind (Rear Window (1954)) -30. Rosemary Baby Carrots (Rosemary's Baby (1968)) -31. Scabface (Scarface (1983)) -32. Second (Helpings of Dinner) (Seconds (1966)) -33. Senior Citizen Cane (Citizen Kane (1941)) -34. The Seven Seals (The Seventh Seal (1957)) -35. A Sockwork Orange (A Clockwork Orange (1971)) -36. The Complete Lack of Conversation (The Conversation (1974)) -37. The Last Crustacean of Christ (The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)) -38. The Rad Shoes (The Red Shoes (1948)) -39. The Turd Man (The Third Man (1949)) -40. The 400 Bros (The 400 Blows (1959)) -41. Um (M (1931)) -42. Vere'd He Go? (Vertigo (1958)) -43. Wages for Beer (The Wages of Fear (1953)) -44. Yellow Submarine Sandwich (Yellow Submarine (1968)) -45. ZZZ (Z (1969)) -46. 2:48 P.M. Cowboy (Midnight Cowboy (1969)) -47. 49th Parallelogram (49th Parallel (1941))

Goofs
Because of infection risks, flowers would not be allowed into a cancer patient's room.

Quotes
Greg: One last thing. Hot girls destroy your life. That's just a fact.

Alternate versions
There was a scene in which Greg films himself for Rachel's movie, and ends up saying, "Hi, Rachel. Um, Earl's right. All the ways that we tried to make a film for you, just kind of turned out completely horrible. So, yeah. It got me thinking about the reason that we wanted to make this film for you in the first place, and, you know, when it comes right down to it, and you just say it, without screwing around, um, I believe in you. You can do it." Those last lines are the same as what all the other students said, and Greg and Earl disliked when they said that. In this scene, Greg looks at a bunch of cameras on his shelf, realizes how phony he is, and turns off the camera. It was cut from the movie because the director thought the movie would be better without it, even though it was hard to say goodbye to.

Connections
Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Denis Leary/Molly Shannon/Kacey Musgraves (2015)

Soundtracks
Jubilate, O Amoeni Chori, RV 639
Written by Antonio Vivaldi
Performed by Aradia Ensemble and Chorus, Conducted by Kevin Mallon
Courtesy of Naxos
By arrangement with Source/Q

User reviews252

Review

Featured review

9/10

Enjoyed every moment of this film

I have to start my review with discussing the inevitable comparisons with "The Fault in Our Stars". John Green fans would find it blasphemous to say this is a superior film but it certainly is. I don't think that I can argue that the characters in TFIOS are more realistic, but the whole unique style and quirkiness of MAEATDG make it a true classic of the teen genre like "The Breakfast Club" or "Breaking Away". It as important as many of the films to which Earl and Greg pay homage with their own hilarious versions.

So many of the same subjects that one finds in any film about the coming of age of high school students exist in this film, but the director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon puts his own stamp on what could otherwise be called cliché. Kudos to Gomez-Rejon whose previous work has been with several Fox TV shows. He should have a good career in film from here on out.

Olivia Cooke as Rachel, Thomas Mann as Greg, and RJ Cyler as Earl are all fantastic. I was familiar with Olivia Cooke before but not the other two. I expect to see a lot more from all of them.

The adults are all superbly cast as well. Molly Shannon spends the movie with a glass of white wine in one hand drowning the pain of dealing with her daughter's plight. Connie Briton and Nick Offerman are wonderful as Greg's parents, with Nick showing that the eccentricities of the child do not fall far from the tree.

I saw this tonight at a screening in Denver at an art house cinema called "The Mayan" It was built probably in the 30s or 40s most likely a single cinema that they did a pop top on to create two more theaters. Those two upstairs theaters are odd to say the least. The leg room is less than economy class on Spirit Air and the screen is not much more than double the size of my screen at home. Probably less that 150 seats as well.Weird place to show the film, since the theater downstairs is really quite nice. I bring this up because I hope this film gets seen by more than the art- house crowd. It really should have mass appeal. I assume Fox hopes to build strong word of mouth on Me and Earl. Well let me help them. Just go see this film. You won't regret it.