‘Dying Girl' affecting, inspiring

There’s an air of precocious genius around “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” which despite its glum title is an inspired existential comedy.

Yes, it’s about two high school boys and a girl, cancer and young love. But it is far wiser than all that, and free of stock figures. It brims with self-referential jokes ranging from odd to downright absurd, yet in emotional terms the story is a model of believability. It’s about specific kids facing specific challenges. A major winner at this year’s Sundance, this is the kind of movie that opens as a sleeper hit, then surprises, evokes and inspires tons of viewers into enduring fans.

Set in a somewhat ramshackle side of Pittsburgh, the film is about an oddball friendship between two schoolmates. The leading character and narrator is Greg (the titular “Me”), who insists from the opening that we shouldn’t worry, this story has a completely happy ending. He’

Fidgety, silver-tongued, a pile of self-critical oddities, Greg spends the most free time possible with his colleague Earl (impressive R.J. Cyler), translating classics of world cinema into zany two-minute remakes.

Rather than focus on their finals or college admission, the misfits turn puppet footwear into “A Sockwork Orange.” Or launch parodies like “Eyes Wide Butt,” “2:48 P.M. Cowboy” or “My Dinner With Andre the Giant.” Earl, a cool character who generally acts like he’s 10 minutes from jilting his pal for good, never quite backs away from Greg. Like us, Earl probably views him as ultimately adorable and empathetic and actually wants to spend time in his company.

Then there’s the girl. Greg’s mother, tired of his disconnected attitude, guilts him into a sympathy assignment, spending time with Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a classmate with leukemia.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” he says nerdishly when they meet. “I’m not here because I pity you. Just because my mom’s making me.”

As if that wasn’t self-deprecating enough, Rachel replies, “That’s actually worse.”

One day they start talking, the next they are bosom buddies. She’s as smart, naive and grumpy as he is - her social awkwardness about being ill matching his messed-up gawkiness. Amazingly, Greg has met the yin that his yang always needed. Avoiding the arc of a standard teen romance, the movie shows two kindred spirits going head over heels in a wildly entertaining way.

“If this was a touching romantic story our eyes would meet and suddenly we would be furiously making out with the fire of a thousand suns,” Greg narrates as he gazes at the smiling Rachel in her bedroom.

“But this isn’t a touching romantic story.” It’s a platonic connection that is completely, utterly nonromantic, like an adolescent “Harold and Maude.” Or at least seems to be.