Media Diary - Week 1

Me Earl and the Dying Girl Review

Me Earl and the Dying girl is classed as a drama, however in my opinion I think it better suits the label romantic comedy, due to the outbursts of witty humour throughout. Even though the film is based on tragic events (to be classed as a drama), I see it more as a coming of age film that is romantic, yet it plays against the classic clichés that normally is attached to ‘teen love’.

From the opening credits, the audience are thrown straight into the world of Greg (Thomas Mann). A teenage boy in his senior year of high school, just trying to slide through his school years under the radar, with no trouble from anyone. Scared to make friends, he calls his longest acquaintance Earl (RJ Cyler) his ‘co-worker’ as the two teens make terrible movies together, but for their eyes only. This soon changes when Greg’s Mother (Connie Britton) guilt trips him to befriend his classmate, the dying girl Rachel (Olivia Cooke), after she had been diagnosed with cancer. The forced friendship eventually starts blossoming, but in to a purely platonic relationship, with Earl stepping in to help Greg out in their mission to make Rachel’s short lived life happier.

Alfonso Gomez – Rejon is very clever in the way he injects humour into the movie, to enhance one of the main themes of making the most out of a bad situation. The light and amusing lines within the film help it to send the message on trying to look at the positives in life and make the most of it. Greg goes from only worrying about getting through high school without offending anyone, to not caring and having a completely different outlook on life after his abrupt start to a friendship with Rachel. The way Gomez portrays this is not only through lines, but cinematography and special effects. The lighting and camera angles change from being very naturalistic at the beginning, to almost abstract towards the end. An example of this is when Earl and Greg accidentally get high, from eating cookies with an unknown drug inside it. The lighting and camera angles used created a distorted sense of reality, to boost how gradually the teenagers became less invisible to the world. To add to this, the music used is current, further making the film a little bit more relatable to the young adult target audience.

I suppose it could be argued that Me Earl and the Dying Girl was plagiarism. Many people believed it to be a rip off of John Greens iconic ‘The Fault in Our Stars’. From my perspective, I don’t think Alfonso Gomes – Rejon took any aspect from John Greens film and regurgitated it, in my opinion they couldn’t be more different. Yes, both films are both about teens tackling cancer, though the journeys of both suffers are very different and their stories are told in diverse ways. The first immediate difference between the motion pictures, is the perspective from which the story is told. Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars is the patient, who tells her heartfelt story through her own words. Greg on the other hand, from Me Earl and The Dying Girl, takes on the role of telling not only Rachel’s story and what happens to her, but the trio of teens adventures; they are more the focus point, rather than the depressing realities of life.

Overall, I find it difficult to criticise this picture, because it isn’t similar to anything I’ve watched. The director has completely flipped what could’ve been a very tragic film onto its head and gave it more substance. Even though the story line could at times be quite predictable, I think on the whole a real depiction of life has been illustrated skilfully here. The director has presented a really well written play and in my opinion turned it into a true work of genius, with new small details that you discover each time you re-watch the film, making it so intriguing. Even down to the way the trailer has been edited! I can just about put into words how extravagant this movie truly is.