'The Fault in Our Stars' tries to be both dreamy and hard-hitting
'Fault' star Shailene Woodley delivers an ardent, nuanced performance.
'The Fault in Our Stars' stars Shailene Woodley (r.) and Ansel Elgort (l.).
James Bridges/20th Century Fox/AP
I recently overheard two teenage girls chatting up the movie version of聽鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars鈥� after viewing its trailer. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to cry,鈥� said聽one, looking very happy. 鈥淢e, too,鈥� said her friend, looking even happier.
For those friends, and millions more, I鈥檓 sure, the movie will no doubt聽be a cryfest for the ages. John Green鈥檚 2012 young adult mega-bestseller聽about two teens from a cancer support group, was, in effect, already聽a movie. (It cried out to be filmed.) Now that it鈥檚 on the big screen,聽translated fairly intact, are there enough handkerchiefs in the world to聽staunch the flow?
To their credit, director Josh Boone and screenwriters Scott聽Neustadter and Michael Weber don鈥檛 pile on the mush. The film is highly聽manipulative, all right, but in ways that allow the audience a modicum of聽self-respect. The sniffling legions at the screening I attended needn鈥檛 have聽felt like fools.
I might have joined them if I did not sense that, on some level, all this聽anguish was intended to be therapeutic. 鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars鈥� is the聽ultimate feel-good movie about feeling bad. And within those limits, it聽succeeds all too well. There鈥檚 even a long sequence in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, which fills out the woe to mythic proportions.聽
As Hazel Grace Lancaster, who spends practically her entire time聽hooked up to an oxygen tank, Shailene Woodley gives an ardent, nuanced聽performance. As her (eventual) boyfriend Augustus, a high school聽basketball star whose leg has been amputated, Ansel Elgort has been聽encouraged to act so charmingly that you just know (even if you haven鈥檛聽already read the book) that bad times are nigh.
Augustus is a Galahad dreamboat 鈥� every teen girl鈥檚 fantasy boyfriend.聽He鈥檚 worth being afflicted for. If he had been less of a fantasy, the movie聽might have been grittier and even sadder, but clearly that鈥檚 not the vibe the聽filmmakers were going for. They want credit for being hard-hitting, and聽they are. But they also have stars in their eyes.聽Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some sexuality and brief strong language.)