Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (film)

The seventeen-year-old Greg Gaines, played by the actor Thomas Mann, is a senior at Pittsburgh's Schenley High School alongside his friend Earl Jackson, played by RJ Cycler. These two "coworkers," as Greg describes their relationship, make movies together as a hobby or a side project based on classic movies directed by well-known directors. The movies they make may somehow be called parody films, as Greg and Earl make their versions of the classic movies similar to the original films but with some kind of twist or exaggeration of some element that exists in the original movie. Moreover, the titles they give to their version of the movie allude to the title of the original movie.

The story starts to spin off when Greg's parents tell him that Rachel Kushner, a fellow student at Schenley High School and an acquaintance with both Greg and Earl from their early childhood, played by Olivia Cooke is diagnosed with leukemia, and Greg's mom forces Greg to hang out with Rachel because Rachel's mom thinks Greg is the type of person that can make Rachel feel better.

As Greg and Rachel start to spend more time together, initially by the force of Greg's mom, they become friends. Rachel finds out about the films Greg and Earl make from Earl and starts to watch them. And one day, a schoolmate named Madison Hartner, played by Katherine C. Hughes, from the high school walks in on Rachel as she was watching one of Greg and Earl's movies and finds out about Greg and Earl's filmmaking. Madison persuades Greg into making Rachel a movie, and he agrees to make the film and start out with Earl but cannot find any proper inspiration to come up with a movie. They try multiple ways, but nothing feels right in their eyes. They leave things hanging, trying this and that.

Over time, Rachel's health gets worse as she starts chemotherapy. And Greg starts to spend more time with her watching movies and less time doing schoolwork. As a consequence of that, his grades plummet, and the college that initially accepted him decides to revoke his admission. Rachel's health deteriorates; she decides to stop the chemotherapy, and Greg is upset by this because he takes it as a sign of her giving up. They argue over it. Greg also finds out from Rachel that she knows they are making a film for her, and Earl told her about it. In annoyance and anger at Earl's "Julian Assange behavior," he goes to his house to confront him and gets into an argument that results in Earl punching Greg. The climax of the film is reached through this incident. After his confrontation with Earl, Greg heads home. Later the next day, Earl delivers to Greg's house a flash drive containing his message to Rachel and a note that says, "I'm out." After accepting that he is on his own when it comes to finishing the movie, Greg slowly restarts making it. After dragging out the project for months, he finally finishes the movie and shows it to Rachel.

Screenwriter Dan Fogelman decided to produce the film after reading a manuscript of the 2012 novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. The production company Indian Paintbrush and producers Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson then got involved. Having never read or written a script before, Jesse Andrews adapted his own New York Times best-selling novel. Andrews' screenplay appeared on the 2012 Black List of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays.[5] Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon became interested in the project after reading a leaked copy of the script. He had worked as a production assistant and second-unit director for Nora Ephron, Martin Scorsese and Alejandro González Iñárritu, and had been looking to direct his first personal film, to express his own cinematic vision and his grief for his late father.[5][6]

The film was shot over a four-week period for an estimated budget of under $5 million.[7] Principal photography began on June 13, 2014, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;[8] they started filming high school scenes on June 16.[9][10] Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung shot the film digitally using Arri Alexa cameras with prime and anamorphic lenses in a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio.[11] A Pittsburgh native, writer Jesse Andrews' family home in Point Breeze was used as Greg's house in the film. Rachel's house was located in Squirrel Hill, and Earl's house was in Braddock.[12] Other locations included Schenley High School (closed since 2008), The Andy Warhol Museum, Copacetic Comics in Polish Hill, and a street corner in West Oakland, which served as an ice cream shop.[13][12] The Criterion Collection lent its library of classic films for use in the book-and-DVD store in the film.[14]

Brian Eno scored the film using a combination of previously unreleased recordings and a few original compositions;[15] Nico Muhly composed the music for the beginning high school sequence and final credits.[16] Filmmakers Edward Bursch and Nathan O. Marsh made 21 stop-motion animated and live-action short films to represent Greg and Earl's classic film parodies, including the final short film made for Rachel set to Brian Eno's "The Big Ship".[17] Differing from the novel, director Gomez-Rejon felt the final film should reflect Greg's artistic growth and express his love for Rachel in an abstract way, using color, texture, and shapes, similar to the work of Stan Brakhage.[15]

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl premiered on January 25, 2015, at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, to a standing ovation.[4] The film was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures for $12 million in a bidding war hours after its premiere,[18] and won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Audience Award for U.S. Drama at the festival.[19] On February 24, it was announced the film had been scheduled for a limited release on July 1, 2015, in the United States.[20] On March 10, it was stated that the film would instead be released on June 12, 2015.[21] The film had a gradual theatrical release, opening in 15 art house theaters, expanding to 68, and then to more than 350 screens. The film went wide to 870 theaters during the July Fourth holiday.[22] It was released in the UK on September 4, 2015.[23]

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

The film has received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 81%, based on 212 reviews, with an average of 7.60/10. The website's consensus reads "Beautifully scripted and perfectly cast, Me & Earl & the Dying Girl is a coming-of-age movie with uncommon charm and insight."[26] The film has a score of 74 out of 100 on Metacritic, given by 40 critics, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[27]

Indiewire gave the film a grade of A−, describing it as "a beautifully charming, captivating knock-out".[28] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote that the film "is destined not only to connect with young audiences in a big way, but also to endure as a touchstone for its generation".[4] Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter later noted that the film had failed to crossover and connect with mainstream audiences, having grossed just $6.2 million in the 6 weeks after its release.[22]

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl at IMDb
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl at Box Office Mojo
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl at Rotten Tomatoes
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl at Metacritic