The Fault in our stars undoubtedly does what every entry from that genre promises to do; make us cry like babies, mucus dribbling down our snoot and all.

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2019)

The Fault in Our Stars, based on the bestselling Young Adult book of the same name, belongs to a very particular subgenre, which combines teenage romantic drama and debilitating disease. I have seen only a few movies belonging to this genre. Love Story (1970) is apparently the movie that is the gold standard in this genre. I have seen its modern successor, A Walk to Remember (2002). Suffice to say, I wasn't in control of my emotions for the next three days, and it might have cost me ten-fifteen marks in my XIIth Board English language exam. So, in spite of knowing nothing much about the movie outside of the trailer, I armed myself with a healthy dose of cynicism and went to the theatre.
And I cried.
2014 was the breakout year of Shailene Woodley. She had just wrapped up her TV show and her last four movies were the Oscar winning The Descendants (2011); the indie hit the Spectacular Now (2013); the experimental thriller White Bird in a Blizzard and dystopian thriller Divergent (both released in 2014). The last one, also based on a bestselling YA franchise, had made her a global star, and she had by then firmly established herself among the talented crop of young actresses in Hollywood. She continues her fine acting form here, portraying the cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster with great sensitivity and wit. She conveys energy of a doomed teenager exceptionally well, compassion oozing from her body, and quiet strength in the way she defies the role of a cancer patient. Eschewing self-pity, Hazel tries to manage her emotions while acutely aware of her parents' struggles, which she knows in her heart she will leave soon. Trying to make sense of her emotions, the well-intentioned parents send her to group therapy, where she meets fellow cancer patient Augustus Waters. "Gus", played by the talented Ansel Elgort in only his third movie, is a plucky former athlete who, after a losing a leg to cancer, is determined to lead a happy life. They inevitably fall in love, and there are a few surprise touches in their story, yet after the crying stopped I didn't find anything solid underneath the movie. Maybe I am too cynical. Or maybe because I don't have a debilitating disease and don't have first hand information on how people behave with such knowledge playing in their minds. I had a problem with how Gus fixates on Hazel at their first meeting and decides to pursue her, in spite of her doing nothing of any interest in the meeting. The fact that Hazel returns the affection without any conflict doesn't exactly cover up for this glaring hole in the plan, but maybe something got lost in the almost-literal translation of the book to the screen. There is a kiss scene between Gus and Hazel in Anne Frank museum, which I thought was wholly inappropriate, given the setting. Gus comes off as a cocky smart mouth, as opposed to charming rogue, which did make me wonder why they didn't go with Miles Teller, who had great chemistry with Woodley in The Spectacular Now. Maybe because Elgort has the wholesome corn-fed American boy look done pat.
Fortunately, the parents aren't portrayed as clueless impediments in the lives of their children, set up as a target of scorn and ridicule by the audience. The lovely Laura Dern plays Hazel's mother with great empathy, and along with Sam Trammel, who plays the father, makes the best of the thinly sketched characters. Nat Wolff makes the best use of his time as Isaac, Gus' best friend. Willem Dafoe interrupts the feel-good, non-conflict vibe of the movie as a reclusive and cranky author, and the beautiful Lotte Verbeek from The Borgias (2011-13) has a cameo as his assistant.
If you are a connoisseur of Hollywood cinema, you know how the broad strokes of the story will go, and you will cry, laugh and cry again at the appropriate times, and hopefully that should be fine. Because that is the most I got out of this movie. Good performances all around, but a one-time watch is all I recommend. Maybe two, if you're hanging out with your Significant Other and wouldn't mind crying a bit.
VERDICT: 6/10
Go for Shailene Woodley.