Meh film, unlikeable main character

Rating: 6/10 (17 June 2019)

Unpopular opinion: Hazel Grace is very unlikeable and kind of a jerk. We'll get to that later.
First, I'm going to discuss the movie in general. Overall it was better than your average sick teen flick. It doesn't solely rely on their condition to make you feel for the characters. It more or less develops them to give you a better understanding of their perspective, their fears, their insecurities. I did feel that the movie tried to be too edgy at times, though. It got to be a bit pretentious (a word I deeply hate and very rarely use). The cigarette metaphor is a perfect example. Pretentious and stupid. Even if you don't light the cigarette, you're still giving money to the corporation. They don't care what you do you with them after you buy them, they already have your money.
Despite being more developed than your average teen romance character, Augustus was a little bland. He was likable, but I wanted more to his character. Hazel had way more depth, which is appropriate considering she's the main character. As I stated previously, I have a lot to say about her character, so I'll come back to her at the end. The parents aren't that fleshed out or explored, which isn't really a fault. The movie is about the kids, not them.
I found it ironic that the film criticizes tropes it later uses. It starts off with a voice over by the main character practically saying (and I'm paraphrasing here), "This is not one of those movies were beautiful people learn beautiful lessons. This is not sugarcoated. This is dark and bleak and depressing." It was a bit more depressing and a bit more profound than others films of this style, however we have two attractive protagonist, one of which learns somewhat of a beautiful lesson at the end. If you're going to criticize stories with certain tropes, maybe try not having the same tropes. In general I find it obnoxious when films do that. It's like a self-image of superiority. "This is no fairytale," says the fairytale. "This is not love story," says the love story. Ugh! Don't tell us what the movie is. Let us see it and decide for ourselves.
The music was a generic and corny. The score was forgettable. In fact, I don't even remember if it had a score.
The ending was okay, I guess.
Now... let's talk about Hazel and why I deeply dislike her. I'll start off by saying Shailene Woodley did an awesome job. Her performance elevated the movie to another level. It almost makes you forget how obnoxious her character is.
We being and end with Hazel. At the start she's relatable and interesting. The story does a good job in making you sympathize with her. She doesn't want to go to support group, which is more than understandable. Up to the point where she goes into the support meeting, I was completely on board with her. However, as I soon as she introduces Patrick (the support group counselor) I start realizing she's very condescending towards other people's feeling- people that are also sick with cancer-I might add. Adding flaws to your characters makes them more complex and profound and real. Problem is, the movie doesn't present this attitude of Hazel as a flaw. She introduces Patrick in a manner of extremely contempt. I could perfectly picture her rolling her eyes as she was telling us his very sad story. This is a guy who lost his testicles to cancer, his wife dumped him, he wound up living in his parents basement. Thankfully he found peace and happiness in religion and is now dedicating part of his life to spreading that happiness to sick kids. Hazel's reaction to him is too hostile. She doesn't have to agree with him, nor does she have to be happy. You have your ways of dealing with your disease, your pain, your life. You can look at this counselor and go, "He doesn't get me or what I'm going through. I am not him. His methods and religious beliefs don't help me." That's perfectly fine. But the way she introduces us to him, it's like she's saying, "This person doesn't know what real pain is. Aw, you lost your balls and your wife left you? Boohoo." I swear that was the attitude she was projecting.
Then we meet Augustus Waters who opens up about his very legitimate fear of dying before being able to leave his mark on the world. His fear is basically to be forgotten. What does Hazel do? He scolds him about his fear and tells him how ridiculous it is. What a b****! If I were Augustus, I'd get pissed. I wonder how Hazel would react if for some miraculous reason she opens up about her fear of having her parents unable to get over her death and someone responds with, "You're gonna be dead, so what's it to you? You can't control your parents emotions now that your alive, you're certain not going to be able to do so when you're deceased. If that scares you, I suggest you ignore it. God know we all do." Would she take it lightly? I doubt it.
Towards the end, where Augustus is pretty close to death, he becomes very depressed realizing he won't be able to leave his mark on the world. It's pretty heartbreaking to know you're going to bite the dust without achieving your dream. Does Hazel, his now girlfriend, comfort him? Of course not. Instead she gets all pissed and makes it about her. "Why can't you just be happy with my love? Am I not enough for you?" You were severely upset when you weren't able to go to Amsterdam to meet your idol Hazel. You didn't see Gus being all, "Get over it already. You have a family that loves you. Why can't you just be happy with that?" Rather he made sure that trip happened for you. The author of an Imperial Affliction is portrayed as a d*** for being a jerk to people despite being in pain. Why is it okay for you to do so? Couldn't stand her. She was all about HER pain and what SHE felt, condescending towards other people's suffering.
In conclusion, the movie isn't that bad, but the character of Hazel Grace brings it down for me. It's actually kind of ironic because Woodley elevates it at the same time. Making movies and writing deep and complex characters is incredibly hard. This movie isn't that lazy, so I'll give is a pass. I think a six is a fair score.