Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Greg summarizes eight of the films that he and Earl have made together. Although Earl gives a stellar performance in Earl, the Wrath of God II, the film suffers from “lack of plot, character development, intelligible dialogue, etc.” (126). They write out a plot for their next endeavor, Ran II, garnering two stars in Greg’s opinion. Apocalypse Later centers around Earl wearing a bandana and cussing a lot. An unexpected ending for Star Peaces occurs when actual police officers show up in response to an old woman’s call about Greg and Earl almost running her over. Hello, Good-Die introduces the filmmakers’ use of sock puppets. Cat-ablanca failed mostly because of the talent. Greg and Earl up their artistic game with 2002. And The Manchurian Cat-idate would have been a success if Cat Stevens could either act or calmly wear clothes.

After making each of their forty-two films together, Earl and Greg burn a copy of the film, one for each of them, then destroy the raw material to ensure no one else can see their films ever. They become co-workers and friends, though neither is adept at making or wanting friends. Earl disappeared for a good portion of middle school, possibly to do drugs, and when he returned and sobered up, “he remained a very solitary person” (131). Greg’s social awkwardness prevented him from forming deep and lasting friendships in middle school so that by the time he reaches high school, he feels he doesn’t want friends, as he’s become so accustomed to not having any.

Earl and Greg eat lunch in Mr. McCarthy’s office. Mr. McCarthy is a young teacher with tattooed forearms and a shaved head, who drinks soup from a thermos, gets excited about facts and research, and will, on occasion, teach barefoot. Greg and Earl eat cookies from Earl’s house and discuss the possibility of an afterlife and whether Rachel will die when Mr. McCarthy enters to replenish his soup, a Vietnamese pho. Since the teacher’s lounge is under maintenance, Mr. McCarthy brings a hot plate to his office to heat up his pho. Earl asks to try it, but Mr. McCarthy declines, stating that rules forbid teachers to give students food, then suggests Earl visit Thuyen’s Saigon Flavor, for a taste of pho on his tab. After Mr. McCarthy exits, both Greg and Earl eat from the pot of soup on the hot plate. Soon after, Greg notices that he feels funny and proceeds to fall down, twice. His altered perceptions disorient his concept of time. He receives a text from Earl alerting him that Mr. McMarthy’s soup contained drugs and that Greg should meet him outside. Earl focuses on finding them food and Greg’s paranoia kicks into high gear. They decide to go to Greg’s house in search of food when they receive a text from Rachel. She starts chemo the next day and wants to know if Greg would like to come over to say goodbye to her hair. In their current state, it takes Greg and Earl a long time to construct a response, but they eventually do, agreeing to go to Rachel’s house instead.

Greg and Earl manage to circumvent Denise, Rachel’s mom, although not without appearing disconcerting as Greg babbles about why they are there to see Rachel. Greg’s amplified awkwardness continues to enrage Earl as they confuse Rachel with their behavior. She interprets it as them not wanting to be there, and because Greg doesn’t want to hurt Rachel’s feelings, he tells her that he and Earl accidentally got high. Greg also wants to protect Mr. McCarthy from losing his job, so he fibs to Rachel about the specifics, telling her that some of the stoners at school forced them both to get high. No one in the room buys the tale, but Rachel is amused, and Earl suggests they all take a walk to get ice cream.

While the array of odd choices of ice cream flavors and toppings consume Greg’s attention, Earl suggests to Rachel that they all watch some of their films. When Greg becomes aware of this suggestion, he begins to panic internally, listing several reasons as to why he objects to this idea and why he feels deeply betrayed by Earl. But because he is still high, Greg cannot vocalize his objection and instead goes along with the plan.

While viewing Batman Versus Spider-Man, Rachel bursts into fits of laughter, which Greg does not trust as an unbiased review of their film. He stews his anger toward Earl for putting them in this situation in the first place.