Movie Review : The Fault in Our Stars
”I believe we have a choice in this world about how to tell sad stories,” she says. ”On the one hand, you can sugarcoat it — nothing is too messed up that it can’t be fixed with a Peter Gabriel song. I like that version as much as the next girl does.” But, she concludes, that’s not the truth. It’s been four decades since Love Story turned young love doomed by cancer into saccharine Hallmark hooey. And it’s safe to say that Hazel Grace would have hated that film. A generation of teens like her have been weaned on YA novels (including the 2012 John Green best-seller this is based on), leading to more discerning palates. They can sniff out condescension from a thousand yards. That’s why they’re lucky to have an actress as effortlessly charismatic and natural as 22-year-old Woodley (The Descendants, Divergent) as their stand-in. Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort) are two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that takes them on an unforgettable journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that they met and fell in love at a cancer support group. The movie explores this theme as it follows Hazel and Gus to Amsterdam. Their goal: to meet Hazel’s favorite author, Peter Van Houten (a suitably crusty Willem Dafoe), and ask questions about his novel, An Imperial Affliction – a book with which Hazel is obsessed.
The trip is by turns disappointing, inspiring, joyful, and tragic. A crucial love scene is beautifully handled, with nary a false note. It’s unfortunate that an earlier moment, involving a trip to Anne Frank’s house, feels uncomfortable – cheesy, and, in its juxtapositions, somewhat tone-deaf. It’s important to note that the scene – and the rationale behind it – is conveyed far more successfully in the book.
But that’s a fairly rare misstep. And now we must inform you, dear moviegoer: About three-quarters of the way through, if not sooner, you’ll start hearing sniffles, then sobs, all around you. And it’s hard to imagine you too won’t succumb, even a little.
And that’s because of Woodley. “The world is not a wish-granting factory,” Gus says. No, but in finding a young actor who can make an audience fall apart while her character somehow remains fairly together herself, the filmmakers certainly saw their own wish granted.
