I think that I saw a preview for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in theaters at the same time as the preview for Infinitely Polar Bear, which I did see in the theaters and thought that Infinitely Polar Bear may be one of the best films of the year. Why didn’t Me and Earl and the Dying Girl appeal to me as much? I almost saw Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, but Olivia Cooke is always cast as the dying girl in Bates Motel and The Signal. She is a great actress and beautiful, but she has definitely been typecast and that made me think that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was not as fresh and original as it appeared to be.
I’m glad that I followed my instincts and waited until Me and Earl and the Dying Girl came out on DVD. I’ve never read the novel, but Me and Earl and the Dying Girl tried too hard and ultimately didn’t work. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is about a high school student paralyzed at the edges of life. He is terrified of making a statement that could put him at odds with someone else or feeling something real, but is forced to do so when his mom makes him befriend a classmate with cancer.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is filled with wonderful actors. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’s narrative has a quirky sensibility that does its best to charm the audience, but falls flat. Even as the main character is supposed to finally be going deeper in his artistic expression and his relationships, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl still feels superficial. Two-dimensional ideas of people based on their most obvious characteristic surround the protagonist, not real people.
I absolutely adore Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon and Jon Bernthal, but they aren’t given much to do except play their character one way. Offerman has one schtick: stay at home, eat weird food and watch films. Shannon is an inappropriately flirty drunk and was given more to do in Life After Beth as another mom who has to deal with the loss of her daughter. Bernthal is boisterous and probably gets the most opportunity to show a range of emotions throughout the film. Every character does not seem to exist independently except to provide growth for the main character. A main character can be narcissistic in how they view the people that they are surrounded by, but the actual characters should hint at being more than how they are perceived.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl felt like Stephen Frears’ High Fidelity and Rushmore had a next door neighbor stalker who didn’t quite get what made those movies work. I wanted to love Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, but I just didn’t. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a tv movie masquerading as an independent film. Skip it or just watch Lifetime.