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Director: Josh Boone
Writers: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Original story: The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Willem Dafoe
Certificate: 12A
Plot: Teen cancer sufferer meets dreamy boy in support group and they embark upon a not so magical adventure to meet the very alcoholic author of their favourite book.
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Now, this is a tricky one to review, as when I read the book I never realised how romantic the story was. BUT I AM A REVIEWER OF FILMS and so, must cast aside the book as if it never existed and review this rom-com depress-fest as its own property, divulging all emotions at the risk of losing my manliness (I didn’t know it was possible to sweat from your eyes).
To be honest, it has everything a good teen film needs; likeable teenage characters, romance, a trip to Amsterdam (for a teen film other European countries are available) car egging, video games and kids with cancer….oh no, wait, something’s not right here
Hazel Grace-Lancaster (Woodley) is a 16 year old cancer sufferer, who is forced by her tyrannical mother (she is actually really nice), to go to a support group led by a man who has no testes, in the literal and metaphorical heart of Jesus. In this group she meets our one legged romantic lead of the hour, Augustus ‘Gus’ Waters (Elgort), whose confident and charming way wins the heart of every woman watching the film. Hazel introduces Gus to her favourite book: Imperial Affliction.
Gus, unsatisfied with the ending the book (we have all been there brother), decides to contact the author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), and arranges for him and Hazel to meet the author in Amsterdam. However, the world is a very unforgiving place… yes even for teen cancer sufferers.
Gus and Hazel’s relationship is portrayed really well on screen, with Ansel and Shailene giving their characters life. I do have to wonder though, if they felt a little awkward, given that their previous film outing depicted them as siblings? Gus’ love of metaphor though, doesn’t come off that well and it makes him seem arrogant and cocky; if it wasn’t for his likeability this trait would start to become rather annoying. For me however, my favourite performance was Willem Dafoe’s; he gives his character (Peter van Houten) the self-destructive quality of a man who has lost something dear to him. This turns him bitter and cynical and, at one point, he goes as far as to berate our protagonists for being spoiled due to their illnesses; which makes him unlikeable, even when the audience finds out why he is like this. Really, it’s a good thing!
It needs to be said to the unprepared (basically those who have not read the book), that the film is a tear jerker; and even to those that are prepared. It’s unavoidable that a story like this only had a handful of clear cut endings that even hint at realism. The film’s realistic credibility (or what there is of it) is stretched in places; characters pop in and out of A&E/ICU faster than most people went through a box of tissues during viewing (if in need of reference points, please refer to the demise of the Laserdisc or my social life). This is probably to maintain a sense of flow within the narrative as well as keep the film to a decent length.
I am a huge fan of the way text conversations are shown throughout the film. Instead of a voice-over, the text is shown in an over the shoulder or POV shot of the phone and little speech bubbles appear behind the characters, which gives us immediate responses to the texts and make it feel more genuine
It is extremely faithful to the source material (some scenes are dropped and a few are added), but it’s nothing to make most fans of the book sad and, honestly, as far as adaptations go it couldn’t have been done better. They have even substituted the awfully cheesy final 5 words of the book for a more believable final few words.
I really enjoyed the film, which seems like an odd thing to say given the subject matter and, unlike the many behind me and my girlfriend in the cinema who were blubbing, and snot crying in a literal sea of tears and other bodily by-products, we didn’t cry, I’M NOT HEARTLESS…. I’m just different… OR at least that’s what my therapist tells me about something completely unrelated to my emotional state.
The Media Shalk 