Movie Review: "The Fault in Our Stars" (2014)

Movie: "The Fault in Our Stars"
Director: Josh Boone
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes

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Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is seventeen years old, and she has cancer. She spends her days watching reality television, going to the doctor, and sleeping. Her parents want her to go to support group, even though she hates going and doesn't see the point. One day, she bumps into Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) in the Literal Heart of Christ, and her life changes forever. 

Bring lots of tissues if you watch this movie.

The day before we saw this, I finished the book, which I loved. I thought it had so much emotion, so much heart, so much maturity for such young characters yet remained subtle enough to make this cold-hearted bitch have the feels again. This adaptation from book-to-film is not without its problems, and there were a couple of times where I raised my eyebrow at some changes or omissions. But, since we are firm believers in seeing each medium as separate entities, the movie was very good, too, but I must mention here that I liked the book better, and that's all I have to say about that.

That being said, the movie is both happy and heartbreaking, yet cliched and sort of predictable. With any love story, there comes cliche, but in this film, it didn't bother me nearly as much as it could have. I think that has to do, in large part, with the performance of Ansel Elgort and most of all, Shailene Woodley. Both do a fabulous job as main characters Hazel and Augustus. Their on-screen chemistry was both good and believable, but Woodley especially steals the show here. She has a bright acting future ahead of her and I think it shows in this role. She can do many things, and I am looking forward to seeing what's next from her. Beyond the chemistry between these two characters, the movie does manage to make audiences laugh here and there, as the main characters have a twisted sense of humor.

In between the laughs and the tears, there are many, many messages to be had. Losing my mother-in-law almost 2 years ago, BigJ and I could be relate personally, though in a different manner. This movie brought up lots of raw emotions that we both cried about during the movie and shared together after the movie was through. Life is what you make it and it's right there in front of you, even if you have cancer, even if you're sick, even if you're dying. This movie is a lesson in life, a lesson in love, a lesson about passion, a lesson about fear. Because of this, it makes the story beautiful. Everyone deserves a chance at not just happiness and love, but tragedy and death as well, and this is not meant to sound disrespectful in any way, but these experiences make us able to appreciate what we have, to accomplish what we want, and in general, to feel with more ferocity. Well, at least that's how I feel about it.

Several tissues and hundreds of tears later, we are left writing this review, and I am still thinking about this damn book. There are a lot of similarities between this film and "Love Story," and this might just be a modern day version of that movie, but with more heart, more maturity, and more of a lasting message about life.

My Rating: 7.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 82%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!!