I will most likely be biased with this movie simply because the book is one of my favorite novels of all time. I am also deeply in love with John and Hank Green and are massive fans of their YouTube channels. I've read all the other John Green novels and I can safely say that The Fault in Our Stars is the best one, and the only one that made me cry. In the middle of the bookstore, no less. Because John Green is a sadistic bastard that wants to watch teenage girls burn.
Let's get to it:
Spoiler Alert.
Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is a 16 year-old with stage 4 thyroid cancer which has spread to her lungs. During cancer support group she meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a charming 18 year-old that won his battle with osteosarcoma after getting his leg amputated. They begin a journey of young romance, and their shared love for An Imperial Affliction; a novel by the fictional Peter Van Houten (William Dafoe). Augustus uses his saved dying wish to bring Hazel to Amsterdam to meet Van Houten, but the trip was nearly canceled due to Hazel's relapse. In Amsterdam, both of them confessed their love for each other and ended up having sex for the first time. Which became the highlight of the trip since Van Houten proved himself to be a heartless drunk incapable of holding a decent conversation with both Hazel and Augustus. During their third and last night there, Augustus confesses that his cancer had come back. He begins chemo again, but knows that he did not have much time, so he made Hazel and their friend Isaac (Nat Wolff) deliver their eulogy for Augustus while he was still alive. During Augustus' funeral, Van Houten flew all the way from Amsterdam to attend it, much to Hazel's dismay. He hands Hazel a letter; a eulogy for her written by Augustus during his last days.
Let's start with the casting. You see, Shailene and Ansel weren't my first choice. The moment the casting was publicly announced, Tumblr erupted in anger. How could they not hire someone more conventionally attractive!? Augustus was supposed to be so and so! Shailene was supposed to look more like Natalie Portman circa V for Vendetta! I honestly thought they butchered the casting, but John Green was adamant that these actors fit the characters perfectly, and I trust John Green's judgement more than I trust angsty teenage Tumblr folks, so I let it go. And boy was I wrong. Shailene and Ansel were truly Hazel and Augustus. Sure, they didn't look like Abercrombie&Fitch models, but isn't that what we all want? To connect with characters on the big screen without having our self esteem trampled? They were a couple of teenagers who were neither stunners nor ugly. They reminded me of teens you would find roaming around the city. They were charming in their own ways, and I thank John Green for picking such great actors who not only could act the part incredibly well but put life into characters that so many readers love.
The film played a lot on the color blue, which is the color of the book. Everything from Hazel's oxygen tank, to her dress and coat, and even the Amsterdam tram poles were different shades of blue. It tied the movie together in such a nice, familiar way. I'm also extremely glad that they romanticized Amsterdam, because it's such a beautiful city that I fell in love with when I visited last year, and it was about time the city received some recognition.
Most of the dialogue were verbatim from the book, which is a huge plus for me. However, I found it a tad odd that they would begin the movie with the plot twist of Augustus' death. I mean, it wasn't blatant, but it might ruin the film for non-readers. I thought that was a huge mistake. I wanted the film to use Augustus' death as a twist, not as an introduction. With that said, I still did cry during the eulogy (which I also did in the book) and subsequent scenes. I thought the movie stuck very closely to the novel, and even though John Green said he had no say in the movie, the director and screenwriters did a very good job with sticking to the core beliefs of the original story. I think that's what matters most.
What I love about the original story is how sad it is, and not in a pitying way, but in such a realistic, c'est la vie type that most novelists, especially those who write for young adults, refuse to acknowledge. Shitty things happen in life, and most of the time, it doesn't get better. John Green's novels are stories with no happy endings, and I think many novels should follow suit.
The only thing that bothered me were the marketing ploys prior to the film. They leaked clips and scenes of it, and I thought the first few ones were alright, but when they started to publish more scenes, probably to garner the attention of the fans, I became a little iffy. They shouldn't have done that. The movie should have been kept in the dark. I mean, the fan-made hype was enough, they shouldn't have contributed to it.
I give this movie an 8.6/10. The book is still better, but at least this film was true to the original story and was still able to conjure up tears from the audience. Seriously, I heard a girl bawl. Or maybe that was just me. I did squeal a lot and found myself mouthing the words to several monologues.
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