Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: June 12, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
3
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJun 25, 2015
A must-see — and one of the best films of the year. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 11, 2015
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl has those handkerchief moments, but the laughs far outnumber the hard and sad punches. This is a movie that’s grounded in reality, has just enough whimsy and soars to the stars. It’s one of the best films of 2015. Read full review
100
HitfixGregory EllwoodJan 28, 2015
It's a fresh, beautiful and heartbreaking achievement that continues to surprise until the very last scene. It's dangerous to call something an instant classic, but sometimes it's simply the truth. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 28, 2015
A smart-ass charmer, merciless tearjerker and sincere celebration of teenage creativity. Read full review
100
IndieWireAnisha JhaveriJan 28, 2015
Poignant without being melodramatic, overflowing with unforced charm, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl holds a unique appeal that's certain to last. Read full review
91
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJul 9, 2015
The film remains sadly profound and profoundly sad, yet it holds just enough humor to lighten a weighty subject without trivializing it. Read full review
91
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 28, 2015
Brimming with wit, crushing last-act melancholia, laughs, and poignant heart, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is a spectacular delivery of tears, love and laughter, and a beautifully charming, captivating knock-out. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 18, 2015
It's a fine line between being gratingly self-conscious and really smart; more times than not, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl comes out on the winning side of that equation. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 11, 2015
This brilliantly funny, casually profound and deeply affecting coming-of-age chronicle, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon from a screenplay by Jesse Andrews, even manages to be life-enlightening—it’s a fresh take on contemporary adolescence as a journey from ironic detachment to openhearted feeling. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 28, 2015
Blending wit and modesty, Mann fits the bill, coming across as an overgrown kid with a good heart, but virtually no practice in relating to others — which is perhaps the thing that makes his experience so profoundly relatable. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 18, 2015
Consistently hits the right notes, earning both the tears and smiles that result. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 11, 2015
Deftly juggling humor and heartache while always exuding a lovable quirkiness, the excellent art-house comedy/drama showcases three teenagers who pop off the screen with originality and, unlike a lot of the current coming-of-age ilk, just the right amount of unpredictability. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickJun 11, 2015
A funny, hip, touching and utterly irresistible comedy-drama. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 10, 2015
This film geek's dream of a movie pulls the ground out from under you, but stays smartass to the end. Sweet. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 10, 2015
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl isn’t deep. But this sure-to-be-a-crowd-pleasing laugher/weeper reminds us that there’s nothing wrong with a romantic comedy that reaches for inspiring and cathartic between the laughs. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 14, 2015
Somewhere along the way Earl eases up on the suburban–Wes Anderson whimsy and starts to find its heart, infusing the story’s self-conscious cleverness and trick-shot set pieces with something sweeter, sadder, and even a little bit profound. In other words, it grows up. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 12, 2015
A winning movie about losing. I didn’t always warm to its coy quirkiness, but it’s the rare American movie about contemporary teenagers that rings more true than false. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyAug 31, 2015
Gomez-Rejon’s sardonic yet sensitive story of geek friendship is the best YA illness novel adap yet. And yes, you can stick that on the poster. Read full review
80
NPRBob MondelloJun 12, 2015
In their no-budget-goofball way, these minifilma are genius. Sheer genius. This kid, you figure, is gonna grow up to be quite a storyteller. And in a sense, he did. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 11, 2015
The charming, soulful Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a movie that loves movies — which is great, because you’ll love this one. Read full review
80
The GuardianEd GibbsJan 31, 2015
High-school students have plenty of growing pains to offload, and Gomez-Rejon clearly knows what makes them tick. His film is at once buzzy, fun and confronting. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid EhrlichJan 29, 2015
What begins as a spirited but safely familiar pastiche of John Hughes and Wes Anderson is compelled to become its own thing, Gomez-Rejon’s film embracing the most tired tropes of stereotypical YA weepies so that it can kiss them goodbye. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJun 24, 2015
This film is sweet and frequently very funny. It isn’t perfect. Some of those imperfections – or, more to the point, irritants, such as the twee chapter headings and college-essay framing device – are carryovers from the YA novel, written by Jesse Andrews, who also adapted the novel to screen. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 24, 2015
This is among the funnier entries in the cancer-kid genre, flawed yet affable, with no fault in its dweebly charismatic stars. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 12, 2015
So this is a very worthy movie, not that this will hold any sway with illness-phobes, who’d rather stare at the wall for 105 minutes than see a good movie about sickness. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 11, 2015
The chief limitation of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is an old story: However touching, Cooke's Rachel is there mainly to prop up the sweetly messed-up young male lead, and then to quietly guide him toward adulthood. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJun 10, 2015
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl treats a serious subject with wackadoodle humor that is endearingly contagious. It’s tender, clever, wise and highly recommended. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 11, 2015
The film is touching and small, but also thoughtful and assured in a way that lingers after the inevitable tears have been shed and the obvious lessons learned. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJun 9, 2015
It’s so carefully designed to feel laid-back that its breeziness comes off like a calculation; its emotional pull is sometimes irresistible, which may make you want to resist it all the more. But the movie has flashes of wit and originality and feeling. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 9, 2015
Overly precious but undeniably affecting, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl travels into familiar dramatic terrain — the offbeat coming-of-age story, as well as the terminal-cancer drama — to deliver something that feels handmade and also heartfelt. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianJeff BakerJun 25, 2015
Me and Earl is smart and appealing, but it spends way too much effort saying "I'm not like that" when it really is. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJun 25, 2015
Even Greg’s tattooed and charismatic history teacher (Jon Bernthal) is more interesting than the self-absorbed kid we’re supposed to care about. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 19, 2015
In other words, this movie isn’t just about an adolescent boy — it pretty much is an adolescent boy. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 11, 2015
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl succumbs to the same cloying too-cuteness and solipsism that often plague its glib and sentimental genre. But those limitations are leavened by the film’s lively, ultimately affecting flourishes and sprightly voice. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 10, 2015
A feature-length tribute to great directors with no direction of its own, his second feature is the kind of self-consciously quirky, slapdash movie that still leaves a viewer eager to find out what its director will do next. Read full review
55
TheWrapInkoo KangJun 12, 2015
Appropriate to its teenage milieu, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon‘s breakthrough film isn’t unlike spending a couple of hours with an exceptionally witty high-schooler: It’s entertaining as hell, but you can’t help rolling your eyes a little at its self-satisfied pseudo-profundities. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 12, 2015
The climactic interaction between Rachel and the film that Greg has made for her is so ecstatically weird that it gets points for its audacity. It’s almost inspired. But the coda — an ode to Greg’s self-sacrifice — is unforgivable, a testament to the ego - and power-trip that is the movie’s ultimate reason for being. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJun 12, 2015
Other than that acquisitive movie-mad mindset, it is a pandering, self-flattering mess, featuring unearned catharsis, lazy clichés and characters presented in broad, sometimes-offensive stereotypes. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJun 8, 2015
It unites a mélange of teen-film tropes into a narrative overburdened with cultural references and framing devices, and undermined by a lack of attention to character. Read full review
30
The DissolveScott TobiasJun 9, 2015
Gomez-Rejon has erected a gleaming shrine to adolescent narcissism. Read full review
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