Directed by Alfonso Gomez -Rejon
Screenplay/Novel by Jesse Andrews
Starring: Thomas Mann; RJ Kyler; Olivia Cooke
High schooler Greg (Mann), who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl (Kyler), finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate (Cooke) who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
This film will be compared naturally to The Fault In Our Stars which made my top ten last year, and you can understand why with, well, the dying girl. However, the big difference here is that the film is narrated by Greg, not the dying girl.
The film is based on a very popular book which I did not get a chance to read, so I am glad I went in without that much knowledge of what lies ahead.
The script is great. It has a real good feel on the groups in highschools and how there are Gregs who rather just melt into the walls and pop out say hello and go back in. Greg rather be just disconnected. The funny thing is he is not miserably disconnected, he seems happy with his life. He spends his days remaking films like, My Dinner With Andre The Giant (My Dinner With Andre) or Sockwork Orange (Clockwork Orange). He has one close friend Earl who he calls his "coworker", not a friend, again a little disconnected. In fact they rarely talk with each other they just watch films and work on films and eat strange foods that Gregs dad (Wonderful small performance by Nick Offerman) creates. Then comes the day his mother (Underused Connie Britton) makes him go visit Rachel who has Leukemia, and unknowingly he becomes connected and it freaks him out.
Cast is perfect. Thomas Mann is so spot on as Greg. But then there is Olivia Cooke as Rachel. She is incredable without over playing the part, she is so soft and quiet in this role. When her character smiles the screen lights up. My only fault with the film is she is not in the film as much as I hoped and I could have watched her and Greg stay in her room and just talk and watch movies. Their chemistry is that good.
For those who did not read the book I cannot go further, just bring tissues. I really liked this film 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
From The shadows as always thanks for your time.
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