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At a point, when watching “The Fault In Our Stars”, you forget you
are watching actors and just know that Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgott
are Hazel Grace and Augustus (Gus) Waters, teenagers who are falling in
love, Hazel Grace reluctantly and Augustus all gung ho. That both have
cancer, hers in the metastatic stage and his in remission, is handled
lightly though it is a major theme as to what happens. Watching Gus and
Hazel Grace fall in love just brings smiles to your face as she fights
it and knows it is inevitable.
As her parents Laura Dern and Sam Trammell are supportive, caring and,
knowing they have a strong daughter, don’t baby her. Gus’s best friend
Isaac, played by Nat Wolff, who also has cancer, brings black humor that
relieves a few heavy moments.
About midway in the movie the production moves to Amsterdam and it will
certainly bring many more tourists as they want to follow where Gus and
Hazel Grace have a romantic dinner or cruise along the canals the lovers
travel plus visit the Anne Frank house and memorial, not to mention the
hotel---oh, oh that would be a spoiler!!!
The only part of the film where the director, Josh Boone, and screenplay
writers, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber based on the book by
John Green, go astray is when it comes to the story line, acted by
William DaFoe as an author and Lotte Verbeek as his assistant, which
also adds a false note to the ending.
I had expected a tear jerker---come on--teens with cancer--from
beginning to end but Woodley and Elgort don’t let you dwell on that with
Elgort’s exuberance for life and Woodley as natural an actress that
puts her up there with Jennifer Lawrence.
There was a twist near the end that surprised me but we get to meet
another couple of real parents in David Whalen and Milica Govich.
“The Fault In Our Stars” is a beautiful love story that will bring tears
to your eyes but not the depression you would expect in a story about
teens with cancer.
