How 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl' is NOT 'The Fault in Our Stars'

At a quick glance, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ may look similar, but they are DIFFERENT MOVIES! (20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight)

Art-house comedy/drama Me and Earl and the Dying Girl won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival. Clearly, critics loved it. But because the movie (which gets a wide release June 19) is about a high-school-aged girl who has cancer, it’s easy for potential ticket-buyers to assume, “Oh, it’s just like The Fault in Our Stars.”

Well, no it’s not.

And here are 5 reasons why.

1. The guy is the protagonist

Rachel (Olivia Cooke), Greg (Thomas Mann) and Earl (RJ Cyler) hang out in ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.’ Twentieth Century Fox Film

2. There’s no romantic meet-cute

Rachel and Greg don’t have the most romantic first exchanges. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

In TFIOS, Hazel meets her soon-to-be-boyfriend Gus (Ansel Elgort) at a cancer support group with his friend. He and Hazel make intense eye contact, flirt and fall in love immediately. In Greg’s case, he’s already known Rachel as an acquaintance for a while, and begins spending time with her reluctantly, because his mom thinks he should now that she’s sick. And that’s something he admits in his first conversation with her. Not so smooth.

3. It’s not THAT kind of love story

Greg and Rachel get lunch together, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re lovers. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Me and Earl is a movie about friendship love; not the TFIOS-style romantic teen love. In fact, Greg says in a voiceover, “This isn’t a touching romantic story.” It’s a story about being there for someone, caring for someone, but not necessarily losing your virginity to them.

4. There are fewer tears shed

Rachel does have a few emotional moments in her room. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

There are sad moments in Me and Earl, for sure— we’re dealing with a sick teen, after all. But there isn’t the kind of crying that went down during a viewing of the rip-your-heart-out-of-your-chest-and-stomp-all-over-it TFIOS. Me and Earl, instead, has countless laugh-out-loud moments, many of them involving Greg and Earl making remaking classic movies.

5. Nick Offerman is in it

Nick Offerman plays the dad, who loves his cat, in ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.’ (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

In both movies, the parents are quirky, supportive and well-acted. TFIOS’s Hazel has a loving mom and dad played by Laura Dern and Sam Trammell. Me and Earl‘s Greg is raised by parents played by Connie Britton and Nick Offerman, a character who makes bizarre food and philosophizes at the house all day. He’s hilarious.

We can’t really give any more reasons, because we don’t want to spoil the movie.

So just see it, OK?

More: An interview with the stars of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.