Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the indie charmer that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Based on Jesse Andrews’ novel of the same name, the film centers on socially awkward teen Greg Gaines (played by Thomas Mann). Greg is an antisocial cinephile who recreates scenes from classic movies with his only friend, Earl (R.J. Cyler). Thomas’ mother (Connie Britton) forces him to befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a terminally ill classmate that Thomas barely knows and has zero desire to visit. An unlikely bond is formed between the two teens, leading to a not-a-dry-eye-in-the-theater moment when Rachel’s leukemia takes a turn for the worse. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not your average teen-with-cancer tearjerker. It’s a genuinely funny and heartbreaking film that is being hailed as an instant classic. It’s got the rare 100 percent fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from critics to prove it. In theaters June 12.
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