Based upon the novel by John Green
Screenplay Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Directed by Josh Boone
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
The "tear-jerker" is not a genre that I particularly enjoy or even find myself even wanting to attempt as the emotional manipulation typically feels to be so manufactured and prefabricated that I tend to find myself rejecting the material altogether. Easy sentiment tends to produce easy tears and for the most part none of those tears are remotely deserved. In the case of The Fault In Our Stars, the blockbuster young adult themed novel written by author John Green, here was a case where what could have easily existed as a phony "tear-jerker" became a work of tremendous poignancy, urgency and real heartache by existing as a work that was decidedly un-sentimental, as well as sardonic, sarcastic, caustic, and even prickly. That literary masterstroke is what gave the novel's love story and tragedy its honest weight as it seemed to dig under the surface of those treacly notions and maudlin viewpoints stories like this one tend to take.
Now that the inevitable film adaptation has arrived, I was worried that the filmmakers would be unable to hold onto the novel's darker and more cynical tone for fear of alienating mass audiences, even those who adored the book, for favor of something more overtly sentimental like "The Notebook" (2004). Thankfully, Director Josh Boone has delivered the goods with a near perfect adaptation of the novel, one that does mine a wellspring of sadness, and honestly so, but also holds tightly onto the novel's sharp tongued soul. As one who typically avoids "tear-jerkers" and typically does not find much to emotionally sway him in regards to most movie love stories, "The Fault In Our Stars" is a soulfully magnetic and quietly powerful achievement.
As with the original novel, "The Fault In Our Stars" is centered around the star-crossed romance between 16-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster (beautifully portrayed by Shailene Woodley), who suffers from Stage IV thyroid cancer hat has metastasized to her lungs and 18-year-old Augustus "Gus" Waters (also extremely well played by Ansel Elgort), whose own cancer, now in remission, led to the amputation of his leg.
Hazel is introduced to Gus through the support group meetings her parents (played by Laura Dern and Sam Trammell) have forced her to attend as they fear that she is suffering from depression, a byproduct of cancer, a condition to which she sharply corrects, "is a byproduct of dying." Regardless, the twosome begin to forge a slow connection and eventual romance fueled both by their respective terminal illnesses and also through Hazel's treasured novel, An Imperial Affliction, written by her hero, the reclusive author Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe).
Josh Boone's "The Fault In Our Stars" is a supremely faithful film adaptation, a trait that should satisfy the novel's legion of fans. While not a visual stylist, Boone's unfussy yet elegant approach to the material gave the film a sense of dignity it otherwise may not have had in other, and more commercially driven hands. We can see that Boone cares for these characters nearly as much as John Green did when he wrote them and that attention to the emotional details of living, loving and dying make the material rise and soar tenderly.
I loved how Boone allowed many silences to occur throughout the film, allowing scenes to flow and breathe naturally, and allowing emotions to rise organically. Boone was wise enough to realize that there was no need to dress up material that already contained so much inherent drama and tragedy, and that respect for the source material and the characters contained therein was palpable.
That very same respect was firmly in place for the audience as well as "The Fault In Our Stars" is yet another film designed for and aimed at a teen-aged audience, and one that is long post John Hughes' classic films, that is determined to provide entertainment that is artful as well as entertaining. I have championed films like Director Will Gluck's "Easy A" (2010), Director Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" (2012) and Director James Ponsoldt's "The Spectacular Now" (2013) as being the very types of films that are of shameful rarity, especially for an industry that caters to the dollars of the youthful audience.
"The Fault In Our Stars" stands proudly shoulder to shoulder with all of those films as it features intelligent, verbose, highly empathetic characters, who also value romance over sexual gratification, all attempting to figure out their place in the world and with each other. It is a film and story where language and the written word can work as seduction, where intelligence is a virtue and shallowness is rightfully scorned, especially when dealing with matters of life and death. Boone also smartly explores and captures the ache of love and the nature of understanding what it means to love as well as the exquisite pain of being loved, especially when your life is bound to end so unfairly soon. In doing so, Hazel, Gus, their friend Isaac (well played by Nat Wolff), who loses both of his eyes to cancer, and their respective parents all are forced to ask the most difficult questions of themselves when it comes to the relationships that mean the most to each of them, again a tactic that gives the film a necessary weight that felt real and not manufactured for the audience to instinctively reach for the Kleenex.
Shailene Woodley is tremendous and as far as I am concerned has been fully liberated from the hysterical idiocy that was her starring role on the television teenage soap opera "The Secret Life Of The American Teenager." If you only knew of her through that program, you would be very hard pressed to realize what a gifted and disarmingly natural actress she happens to be. And now, after being featured so beautifully in Director Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" (2011) as well as the aforementioned "The Spectacular Now," with "The Fault In Our Stars," Woodley has proven herself to be one of her generation's strongest actresses. She never oversells any moment as Hazel as she allows her character's natural intelligence, wit, rage, pain, romance and sorrow seep through her pores, making her a teenage cinematic heroine to root for and most importantly, understand and view as a full three-dimensional figure.
In some ways, Shailene Woodley often reminded me of none other than Molly Ringwald (who played Woodley's Mother on "The Secret Life Of The American Teenager") from her now iconic performances in three of John Hughes' works. In "Sixteen Candles" (1984), "The Breakfast Club" (1985) and especially in "Pretty In Pink" (1986), Ringwald became a cinematic figure that I admired so deeply not because of her unusual attractiveness but because of the integrity and strength she always possessed in her roles. She never played dumb, she never catered to any pre-conceived notions of what a teen-aged girl should or shouldn't be. Molly Ringwald was individualistic and idiosyncratic to the best degree and Shailene Woodey is now displaying that exact same skill with seemingly effortless ease and makes for an on-screen figure that you wish to follow anywhere. This quality also fuels Woodley's excellent chemistry with Ansel Elgort, a chemistry which is unforced, relaxed and again, undeniably natural and houses an emotional "opposites attracts" charm that creates some justifiable romantic tension as Hazel is pragmatic and Gus is a heart-on-sleeve romantic.
In dealing with the film's romantic themes, it was also a wise decision of Boone (also fueled by the source material) to diffuse all of the conventions of the movie love story while simultaneously upholding them. It is a movie and story filled with characters who are purposefully more than a little self-aware and the roles that they play within this particular story, making them characters who are commenting upon pop culture while also existing as members of pop culture as well as characters who are more true to real life. Boone gives us a "Meet Cute" set-up for Hazel's introduction to Gus, their dialogue is filled with the exact heightened witty banter we could only wish we would utilize in real life and for one of the characters, we are also given a full view of their "Last Good Day" before the inevitable tragedy strikes. And yet, nothing ever felt like a cliche, because so much heart, soul and smarts were invested into making these characters exist as people, that when it is time for the pain of the story to show its demands to be felt, it does. Man it does.
Now, all of that being said, I have always expressed to you that books are books and movies are movies and that as movies, filmmakers have to discover a way to make the cinematic work stand independently of the written work. Yes, the film is extremely faithful, as I have already stated. In fact, there were several elements that felt as if Boone had somehow walked into my brain and picked out how I saw Gus' basement room in his home, for instance, and magically placed it upon the screen. No easy feat and definitely one to be commended. But I did think that "The Fault In Our Stars" was perhaps a tad too reverential to the source material for maybe its first third, which I guess that I can understand because Boone has to show a sign of good faith to the audience of the novel's fans and if he cannot convince that audience that he won't screw up this enterprise, then the whole film would unravel.
Even so, I have to say that I think the film began to find its wings during the extended sequence set in Amsterdam, when Hazel and Gus track down the reclusive author. I have to admit when I read that section, I was not entirely convinced of its placement initially and I had to warm to it. Yet, on screen, the entire sequence, especially their turbulent meeting with the embittered, alcoholic Van Houten and their eventual visit to the Anne Frank House, Boone slowly began to give his film some firm legs to stand upon and soon, I was less concerned with how faithful tot he novel the film was and fund myself immersed in the story just as it was being presented to me on screen.
Before I sent this posting out into the world, I wish to share with you a memory from the summer of 1981, the summer of Steven Spielberg's "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" and Richard Lester's "Superman II" to name just two. It was during that summer when the late, great Gene Siskel, film critic of the Chicago Tribune and notoriously difficult to please, gave positive reviews to over 10 films in a row, something so unprecedented that I could not believe what I was reading each Friday when a new release would arrive in the movie theaters. There was just something in the air that year and I feel something similar is in the air right now in 2014. As of yet, I have not seen even one film that I can say that I have had a truly negative reaction towards and I am so excited and pleased to be able to go to the movies during a time like this.
Yes, Hollywood has seemingly lost all sense of risk taking and ingenuity in favor of sequels, re-boots, and costumed heroes but I have been so excited with the diversity of good to great films that are somehow still being made. Josh Boone's "The Fault In Our Stars" is indeed one of of the year's better films, one that fully deserves the acclaim and hefty box office that it has already received due to its purity of heart, commitment to its characters and the depth of its soul.
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