No fault in Woodley's star-making performance

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2015)

"The Fault in Our Stars" is one of the most talked about films from last year and this over 2-hour-long film won big at several awards shows that were mostly aimed at younger audiences. It is the second directorial effort by Josh Boone and the writing came from the team that worked on "(500) Days of Summer". Lead actress is Shailene Woodley and her male co-lead is played by Ansel Elgort. The supporting cast includes Oscar nominees like Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe. This movie is about a woman suffering from cancer, but that's really just the background story. With the Big C always present, we get to watch how she spends her final months with friends and family.
Woodley is truly outstanding in the lead and there is no denying that she easily belongs to the most talented actresses from her age group. She took a break from acting between 2007 and 2011, but returned by holding her own against Hollywood star George Clooney in the Oscar-winning "The Descendants" and since then it's been a triumphant walk for her leading several movies. This one here is just another great addition to her résumé. Unfortunately, I am not too big on Ansel Elgort here. There is something pretty off-putting about him on several occasions. I am not sure if it's the way the character was written, his (mediocre) acting or a combination of both. In any case, he looked really weak compared to Woodley and I can't see him carry a movie that runs for over 2 hours and he is in it for 1.5 hours pretty much. I rarely had the impression I was watching a genuine character instead of a performance.
The script is fine for the most part. Sometimes it gets into territory in which it feels it sacrifices realism for a sob story, but that's fine as it only is maybe 2 or 3 times. I think in terms of the subject, this still could have been much more authentically emotional, but what the writers came up with isn't a failure either. I did not know Dafoe was in this film, but I enjoyed his short performance. I honestly did not need the second part of his cameo near the end as it was nowhere near as memorable as his first couple scenes. All in all, I cannot agree with the critics and awards bodies who really loved this movie. Still, I believe this is a decent watch. It's just that I would not put it anywhere near my favorite 2014 movies. My favorite cancer-themed film of all time is still "A Walk to Remember". But back to this one: Shailene Woodley is very much outstanding in here. Too bad she is the only real reason to check it out.