The teen movie with a heart, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl is the critics favourite for awards season, but here are six more reasons why you should check it out this weekend...
It’s set to be the late-Summer sleeper hit of the year thanks to rave reviews from critics and preview audiences alike, but if you’re not already convinced, we've come up with six more reasons why you need to go see Me & Earl & The Dying Girl this weekend:
It’s a YA film with some serious credentials
Take the storyline of A Fault in Our Stars and cross it with the quaintness and aesthetic of a Wes Anderson flick, Me & Earl is the young adult film with serious credentials. Lead character, Greg (played by Thomas Mann) and his ‘co-worker’ Earl (Ronald Cyler II) spend their spare time making parody films - and with references to 47 other movies throughout (Eyes Wide Butt or Anatomy of a Burger, anyone?), film geeks will love this one as well, so don’t despair if your younger niece wants to drag you along.
Olivia Cooke is the next big thing
She’s our Girl Of The Moment in this month’s issue and we’re predicting that you’ll be seeing much more of this face in the coming years. Humble, hilarious and the new hot actress on the block, Olivia plays the role of the ‘dying girl’ Rachel who is diagnosed with Leukemia. While the plan was to wear a bald cap during filming, Olivia made the executive decision to shave her head. A brave and bold choice but one that certainly paid off.
It’s already won big - and will continue to do so
Me & Earl took this year’s Sundance Film Festival by storm, picking up both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. No biggie! The last film to have done the double was Whiplash, which went on to be nominated for five Oscars (and won three of them), so basically Olivia Cooke and co. are destined to become regulars on the awards ceremony route this season. If all that doesn’t convince you, after making it’s debut at Sundance, the distribution rights of Me & Earl were then sold for a cool $12million – the biggest deal in the history of the festival.
It’s not another teen romance
Much like Paper Towns, Me & Earl doesn’t subscribe to the normal narrative of a teen movie where romance is valued above quality of the script. There’s no clichéd prom night scenes here.
It’s a beautiful story and isn’t that all we want these days?
All in all, Me & Earl is a beautiful story which isn’t try hard. While it’s a poignant coming of age film, you won’t end up cringing in your seat for half of the run time and you won’t be subjected to a bevy of teen movie clichés but we can’t promise that you won’t cry. It’s a film which will stay with you and one you’ll probably end up seeing again (if you’re anything like us).
Oh. And it has Nick Offerman in it.
If that isn’t enough, then you’re basically impossible to please.
Pick up the October issue of Marie Claire to see our interview with Olivia Cooke.