Naturally, I was excited about the movie, and I was lucky enough to have not only Taylor but our sister Lindsey home (both live in Boston most of the time) to see The Fault in Our Stars on opening night. I read it and I found the frequency I was tearing up increased exponentially the further I got into the book. Due in part to my knack for screening out all the horrible stuff she lives with for my own selfish reasons, I felt that reading the book would be a great way to help relate to her and her illness better. She read The Fault in Our Stars and related tremendously to the main character. Not necessarily ‘cancer terrible,’ but still pretty horrible. Sean Walsh: My younger sister, Taylor, has Crohn’s disease, which is a disease I know little about (whenever my mom would tell me the horrific things my sister had to endure I’d phase out), but what I do know is that it’s terrible. There is not a thing about The Fault in Our Stars that is visually remarkable, and in a visual medium, that is perhaps its most damning flaw. What cannot be excused, however, is the workmanlike direction. Any problems with the screenplay can be laid at the book’s feet, absolving director Josh Boone of the guilt associated with the now-infamous “metaphor” exchange. Its source material is worthless as entertainment, to be used only in the event of a slowly dying campfire. The core problem with The Fault in Our Stars is simple: it is an adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. Dafoe is a ticket-seller for me, and to see him essentially sleepwalk through a potentially captivating role is nothing short of disappointment. Willem Dafoe is in the film, playing an alcoholic hermit who just happened to have written Hazel’s favorite book, and hot damn that man looked tired. Since I am strapped for much of anything of interest regarding this film, I would normally turn to the supporting cast, but even that eludes me. I would call it despicable, but it’s a fairly crucial scene in the book. This scene essentially takes one of the most recognizable symbols of the horrors wrought by the Holocaust, and uses it to frame a kiss. That scene feels like a film student’s sophomore year project, right down to the overwrought symbolism. It becomes so incredibly generic, I’m having trouble recalling any particular images from the movie, except for the scene in Amsterdam’s famous Anne Frank house. However, this stylistic aping is quickly tossed aside for the remainder of the movie, instead turning into every other movie out there. Of course, the jokes don’t land, but it’s an admirable effort nonetheless. The movie’s opening moments suggest an almost Edgar Wright-esque style of humor, with quick cuts and a startling awareness of the frame as a humor device. The Fault in Our Stars has an odd problem with tone - though thankfully more complex than your usual tone problems. He still looks like he would complain about the friend-zone, but that’s really not his fault. Although this is likely a result of Augustus’ more cringe-worthy moments having been left on the cutting room floor, Elgort still does an alright job with the role. If there is one person who will escape this farce unscathed, it will be him. Isaac’s character arc flat-out ends within two scenes, leaving him to spout one-liners for the rest of the duration.Īnsel Elgort’s Gus simultaneously revels in his own majesty, while still letting his inner dork out now and then. The singular likable character in the film is Isaac, a blind cancer survivor who only just manages to dodge my ire because he’s not really a character. From there, the duo fall into a romance, packed to the odious brim with the kind of indie-kitsch you would expect from a movie where a youth puts cigarettes in his mouth, purposefully does not light them, refers to this act as a metaphor, and is not immediately ridiculed by everyone within earshot.īoth Hazel and Gus are perfectly crafted human beings - even worse, they seem aware of it. Hazel Lancaster (Shailene Woodley, doing a fine job with some awful dialogue (the same could be said of her in Divergent)) meets one Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) during a support group meeting, and is instantly smitten. The Fault in Our Stars is a movie about cancer-ridden teenagers who fall in love.
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