The Fault In Our Stars

Sixteen-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) spends her days watching reality television shows, attending doctor’s appointments, lugging her oxygen tank everywhere and doing not much more than waiting to die from her stage 4 cancer. Her mother, desperate to break Hazel’s isolation, pushes her to join a support group.

Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), 18, sacrificed a leg in his battle with cancer and is now on his own personal “roller coaster that only goes up!” He loves metaphors about taking the fear and power out of death, rhapsodizing on his mission to leave an imprint of glory and inspiration on the world, his friend Isaac, and most of all Hazel Grace.

Gus is the extroverted dreamer who believes in going big, in nothing being too ridiculous, in taking risks, in finding a reason for all things, and especially in an afterlife. Hazel, however, is an introverted pragmatist. Referring to herself as a grenade she desires to minimize the casualties of grief when she eventually explodes. Remaining focused on the realities of her situation, she takes her time with Gus, insisting that they remain friends right up until she falls in love. Both alluring, they are pulled together by the differences between them for a romance they both know will last their lifetimes.

Luckily Woodley and Elgort aren’t forced to shoulder this film alone and have the support of some serious pros. Laura Dern and Sam Trammell are great as Hazel’s supporting, although often times smothering parents. Willem Dafoe is perfection as the bitter and nasty, yet evolving Van Houten. You feel his insults as he directly intended and his character offers the perspective of the future Hazel so fears for her own parents.

Filled with dry wit, Fault delivers big laughs through what otherwise could be a saccharin, toothache inducing film. The acerbic lines about “cancer perks” and the like delivered by the two charming leads level the film, instead of overcompensating for the inevitable tears of the last couple of acts. And if you think you’re going to escape this film sniffle free, I’d say it’s better to hedge your bets and bring some tissue.

There aren’t many surprises in the Fault’s plot. However, as it is often said, ‘It’s not about the destination, but the journey’; for Hazel and Augustus, the destination is precipitously close. Nonetheless, it is the journey they take together that has left readers spellbound and propelled this faithful adaptation of the young adult bestseller to the big screen. And it is this journey that will mark this film as a classic among its genre.