Good introduction to a very difficult movie topic with minor hiccups.

Rating: 6/10 (17 August 2014)

The target audience for this film is teenagers and parents, although anyone can go see it. I went with a group of friends 2 male and 3 female. For younger audiences the film is a drama romance that touches on death, cancer, love, and teenage angst all the while weaving in out the experiences of people who struggle with terminal or a debilitating illness. The film is worth seeing but a little buggy.
It is slightly offensive to people of faith, and portrays religion as either kitschy schlock or something to be privately disdained. Not that religion can't fall into the stereotypes that the film portrays, but it would be nice for once for Hollywood to show at least a glimpse of the way the Christian faith is actually been practiced historically instead of the disdainful white suburban stereotypes.
And the male character comes off as overly sanitized in manners, motive, and his completely nude free manpad in his moms basement. Girls may find Gus to be a heart throb but in the real world and in the film there is a sense of unrealism to think that he being 18 has never had sex, and that him withholding his new cancer results from Hazel until AFTER they had sex was altruistic. The odds are more likely, in this day and age, that he has watched tons of porn and 50% of his feelings are tied to just looking for mindless jockish release.
It may have been me, but the vibe I got in the theater is that they shouldn't have had sex. No one cheered or seemed relieved or happy. IT was dead quiet and everyone seemed to be thinking don't do it. The kiss in the Anne Frank museum was actually more of a crowd pleaser. It just seemed that If two people are both seriously sick and have health complications, having sex could be difficult if not disastrous. If I was Hazels father I would have been furious over him putting her at risk like that.
And it's not like they can show him putting on a condom either, so basically the message is if your dying it's OK to have unprotected sex, just don't tell your partner your dying. What is real love anyway? Think of the long term heartbreak created by physically telling someone that you love them then an hour later breaking the news that you'll be dead soon. Would it be a surprise that so many young people today are sexually burned out and emotionally numb by the time they hit their 30's ?
Aside from this the film feels a little condensed and the perspective is entirely that of two rich white kids. I understand a film is a film and you have to pick an angle and time limit but you could almost retitle this movie, "The Fault in Our White Suburbs" or "Suburban heart ache for the first time". It just seemed a little too lily white and privileged. I mean Hazel gets to meet her favorite author, go to Europe, date another rich white kid, and text on her I-phone from her wealthy family home, with lovingly rich card board parents. It must 'really' suck to have cancer if your black or poor. But I understand again it's a movie and tickets must be sold.
At face value it's not a terrible film and designed to be a tear jerker, most females in the audience seem to cry at least once. And if you have cancer or have a child with cancer the film can provide some sense of common experience with others around the country or world who are struggling with the same emotional roller coaster of anxiety, fear, and existential grief. So despite it's few quirks, affluent centric characters and minor flaws, I would recommend watching this movie.