Hollywood capitalizes on another YA novel

Rating: 4/10 (19 August 2014)

Hollywood capitalizes on a young adult bestseller and doles out the usual drivel in the hopes of a blockbuster.
Not to say that The Fault in Our Stars is drivel, per se, but it lacks the magic and emotion that is captured in John Green's acclaimed young adult novel. I read the book awhile back, and while I had minor issues with the plot, it resonated with me because of this tragic but tender love story.
Time to tears: Book – last 90 pages (Don't judge me!) Movie –fleetingly at 1hour 53 minutes (I'm not a monster!)
The movie followed the book to the letter, but is vastly ineffectual.
The screenplay is lazy and a bad adaptation; writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber did not take the time to translate Green's writing for the screen.
The directing by Josh Boone was unimaginative and literal; reverting to lame voiceovers and text bubbles instead of good structure from the screenplay for workable content and acting.
Both writers and director seem inexperienced beginners earning their stripes with this film.
The acting was not great and the main characters were miscast. I can see why Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were cast as Hazel and Gus respectively; they were able to pull of the emotional scenes near the end. Lacking was the charm for the entirety of the rest of the film. Woodley is basically a happily bewildered toothy smile while Elgort is overconfident and decidedly not charismatic.
I did think Willem Dafoe's casting was spot on and found Nat Wolff to be underutilized as Gus's best friend.
This film was a higher budgeted version of some hybrid Disney-Hallmark made for TV-movie trying to be more. Frankly, I am a bit offended at how juvenile the final product seems as the film version was not smart and belittling to readers of The Fault in Our Stars. Yes, it is an adaptation of young adult book about teens finding love while being deemed 'cancer patients' but it didn't need to be this horrible cheese-fest!
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