Another Hit YA Cancer Dramedy? Check Out the Trailer For 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'

Just over two months after winning the hearts of Sundance Film Festival-goers, Me and Earl and The Dying Girl is beginning its charm offensive on moviegoers worldwide.

The film, directed by veteran TV director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Glee and American Horror Story), is an adaptation of a YA book by Jesse Andrews, and from the looks of the first trailer above, it seems to have a lot in common with another recent YA smash hit based on the bestselling John Green novel, The Fault in Our Stars: High school romance, cancer, and discovery that there’s a lot to be learned about living from dying.

The film also seems well aware of the inevitable comparison, and the trailer includes an opening narration from star Thomas Mann that promises that it isn’t “a touching romantic story.” Mann plays Greg (the “me” in the title), a high school senior with real commitment and socializing issues: He barely even wants to call his lifelong buddy Earl (RJ Cyler) his “friend,” opting instead to refer to him as a co-worker since they spend their time making terrible, pun-inspired remakes of famous movies. (A Sockwork Orange?) Greg’s life gets shaken up when his parents (Connie Britton and Nick Offerman, which is a dream parenting team) force him to start hanging out with Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a.k.a. the titular Dying Girl, who was just diagnosed with leukemia.

A mixture of wry humor and, yes, touching moments await the trio as they navigate their senior year and respective futures. The film’s blend of sweet and sassy struck a major chord at Sundance, where it won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards — the festival’s two biggest honors — and was the subject of a major bidding war that was won by Fox Searchlight. On June 12th, they’ll find out if it was money well-spent.