THE FAULT IN OUR STARS – The Review

It’s time, once again, for Hollywood to bring to the big screen another tale from the pages of a popular young adult novel. But this one is a bit different. It’s not the first in a series, so no franchise this time. Oh, and it’s not set in the fantasy realm of sparkly vampires, hunky werewolves, and displaced offspring of mythical beings. And it’s not so in a dreary, futuristic dystopian society where evil adults force teens to battle each other for survival. Nope, this is a sweet, down-to-Earth story about two teens falling in love, much like last year’s low-key love story THE SPECTACULAR NOW. Hey, the blossoming beauty from that earlier film, Shailene Woodley, is the female lead in the new flick. This after being the lead in the first film based on a series with those futuristic teen battles, DIVERGENT, earlier this year. She now joins one of her co-stars from that earlier flick Ansel Elgort for the big screen adaptation of John Green’s beloved best seller. Their characters, Hazel and Gus, face a threat greater than the feuding families in “Romeo and Juliet” trying to destroy their romance. Both are battling cancer. The title quotes the bard behind that early teen love tale from his “Julius Caesar”,  it’s THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. Tissues ready?

The film’s main focus is shy, sad seventeen year-old Hazel Lancaster (Woodley). For the last ten years or so she’s been living with a thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs, necessitating the use of a mobile oxygen tank that she lugs behind her like an airport traveler’s wheeled baggage with a tube leading from it feeding air into her nostrils. She spends her days gulping pills, visiting her doctor, trying to eat, reading the same book repeatedly, and looking with envy at healthy teens. Her hovering mother Frannie (Laura Dern), concerned that Hazel is sliding into depression, finally convinces her to attend a cancer patients’ support group. Hazel’s not impressed, but gives it another chance.  Luckily at this session, Isaac (Nat Wolff), a teen losing his sight, brings his best pal for support. Nineteen year-old Gus Waters (Elgort) is a confident, outgoing former jock who is cancer free after losing the lower part of his right leg to osteosarcoma. After the session, the clearly smitten Gus asks Hazel out. This begins a romance that will take them across the globe. But Hazel is hesitant to give herself over for fear of breaking his heart, referring to herself as a “grenade”. Happily the sweet Gus is determined to get past the wall she’s built around herself in order to capture her heart and spend as many days as possible in each other’s arms.

Woodley conveys Hazel’s realistic overview of her life with great skill and subtlety. A brief moment of her looking longingly at a group of giggling girls on a mall escalator (going up, naturally) speaks volumes. A few times she must act as the stoic, realistic adult in the family as her Mom tries to put a sunny spin on everything. When the clouds finally part after encountering Gus, Woodley shows us the bright bloom of first love with eyes bursting with promise, And there’s a bit of that “somebody thinks I’m pretty” amazement we saw in last year’s NOW film. In recent interviews, Woodley has said she wants to move beyond the teen flicks, and her work here shows an artist more than ready to move toward another career phase. Elgort brings a nice easy-going charm to a role that’s more than a “Teen Beat” pin-up brought to life.

Attentive, sensitive,and patient, Gus is almost too good to be believed. Luckily Elgort is able to make him more than an ideal. It’s an often difficult balancing act, since he can come close to being arrogant and a touch obnoxious. I know it’s in the book, but his jamming an unlit cigarette between his teeth quickly became irksome. Yeah, it’s a metaphor (repeated too many times), but you’re stilling giving money to those death merchants. Wolff, who was very obnoxious (intentionally) in the recent PALO ALTO, is often fun as the quirky best pal. Dern walks the tightrope between being supportive and smothering and acquits herself nicely especially when we see the delight in her eyes watching Hazel’s romance. I debated talking about this next actor, since I was surprised by his appearance, not having seen him in any of the trailers, but since author John Green announced it on his website (and it’s on IMDB) I can feel free to sing the praises of Willem Dafoe as a boozing, surly, reclusive author who tosses a few nails onto the road of love. But the film’s real scene stealer is stand-up comic Mike Birbiglia, the co-writer, co-director and star of the terrific SLEEPWALK WITH ME from 2012, as the drippy,dimwitted support group sponsor Patrick. Unfortunately he’s gone from the flick after only 20 minutes or so. How about a spin-off about this guy?

Josh Boone, working from the screenplay by Scott Neustadler and Michael H. Weber, keeps the film rolling along at a fairly good pace despite a couple of story missteps (two characters have to read the eulogies they’ve written for another character becomes cloying), with no flashy flourishes besides some animated bubbles that illustrate text messages. But the film never really rises above an exceptionally well-produced cable TV flick (back in the 70’s they were made-for-TV disease -of-the-week movies). The ads try to dance around the grim subject, but the big finale’ does indeed deal with that “final round-up”. Back in Hollywood’s Golden age, studio bigwigs referred to these types of movies as “weepers” and FAULT more than delivers. Folks go to horror flicks for an adrenaline rush, so perhaps films like this also provide an emotional release from these stories of love and loss (the sniffling nearly drowned out some dialogue at the advance screening I attended). THE FAULT IN OUR STARS has some engaging performances and lovely exotic locales, but it may just appeal to fans of the book. Not that films don’t get to me. Hey, just recalling THE IRON GIANT closing his metal eyes and gasping, “Sooooperman!”. Oh boy, here I go…

3 Out of 5