It's quite clear now that Hollywood insist on making films which are adapted from best selling books aimed at a young female audience. It's easy money, as they flock to see their beloved books created into big screen movies, hoping that the film is good as what they see in their imaginations. However with the vast majority of these adaptations, the film makers really couldn't give a crap about the quality as they get whipped by studios to create these awful movies in a very short space of time. They all have the same cliches and terrible dialogue that makes you want to cringe and throw up whilst you're painfully watching sappy bullshit thrown in your face. So when it came to sitting down to watch The Fault in Our Stars, expectations were low. Mainly because of the fear pointed out in the previous points mentioned and that their was plenty of teenage girls queuing outside the screen, all wanting to cry before the film even started. Great. So as I sat their with my friend, who she looked at me in deepest sympathy whilst crying with laughter at my situation, being in a supposed teen movie ( the cheeky cow!), I was preparing for yet another blubbering cheesy teen movie. Wow I was wrong, very wrong.
The Fault in Our Stars has a talented cast headed by Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16 year old cancer patient who has terminal thyroid cancer. Her mother played by Laura Dern, believing her daughter has depression, sends Hazel to a support group who she subsequently meets Augustus Waters, played by Ansel Elgort and as a result the two fall in love. What impressed from the very beginning is that you felt connected to the character of Hazel. You understood her situation that she's accepted that she has cancer and the realism of that makes her very relatable. And so were the rest of the characters in this film. They all felt like they could be the neighbours on the street, which is down to the brilliant acting from the cast. Gus has to be on a level with Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings in terms of being an amazing male human being. He's so positive about life even though he's had an awful time with his cancer. His charm that he brings could have came across as a little arrogant and smarmy but because Ansel Elgort plays the character so well, you gain so much admiration for him. The chemistry between Hazel and Gus wasn't mind blowing but the connection was still really good and that's down to the heartfelt script. The way the film was written could have meant the film coming across as really over the top cheesy emotion, which without any care for detail would have butchered the film. However even though the film at times comes across as a little sappy, the mixture of good direction from Josh Boone, the cast understanding their characters and the script makes the films unique style work.
The Fault in Our Stars is handled with plenty of care and it avoids that problem with the vast of majority of these types of films, that they're too much like fantasy and fake, meaning it doesn't hit on an emotional level for the whole audience. This film tries so hard to avoid the same old cliches and I admire that because it could have easily been thrown on the skip pile with the rest of the rubbish. As soon as the bloke on the same row as me borrowed some of his missuses tissues, this film had truly succeeded. It's a film that you can easily watch again at home, even though I would recommend investing in a box of tissues....maybe another one just in case. Any manliness I had has truly gone with this film.
Rating: 8/10
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