Okay? More Than Okay: The Fault in Our Stars Review

Big, neon-lit disclaimer upfront: I have not read the book.

This is one of my "going in blind" situations where I know nothing about the movie and have not attempted to do any sort of research beforehand. Therefore, as is the case with many other book-to-movie adaptations, my opinions may not reflect that of someone going in the cinema with a certain set of expectations.

Let's face it, though: by reading a book, any book, you've pretty much guaranteed your disappointment for its movie counterpart anyway. So there is that.

With that out of the way, on to the blockbuster that's been hyped up for months now.

And for those of you who follow me, it's good to be writing again.


The Fault in Our Stars (thereafter known as TFiOS) stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen year old diagnosed with Stage 4 Thyroid cancer. Hazel is said to be suffering from depression - though she continuously denies this - and lives a life of reluctantly attending support group sessions. Her support group, however, will be where she meets Augustus Waters (portrayed by Ansel Elgort), who eventually (but quickly) becomes her love interest.

But of course, you knew this already. What you want is the answer to the question "Is TFiOS any good?"

Short answer is yes. If that's enough to get you booking your online tickets now, please do. It wasn't easy getting hold of mine.

The longer answer is that it depends. TFiOS is, at its core, a love story. To simply dismiss it for being a love story, however, wouldn't just be a mistake, it would be stupid. I'm going to make a rather exaggerated comparison here, but you don't dismiss Romeo and Juliet for being a love story, either.

More on that later, though. This is where I'll first address the caveats to my praise of TFiOS: being a love story does mean it inherits some of the cliches of romance flicks. Good looking protagonists, near-immediate falling-in-love, always saying the right stuff, that kind of thing. As many of us know, real life is rarely as simple. Of course, it should be noted that this movie is, after all, based directly on a book, so perhaps it would be wrong to fault it for that.

All the actors here aren't exactly big names, but they do their job really well. Woodley and Elgort have terrific chemistry - something exponentially more important in a romance-focused tale versus other genres - while Nat Wolff, who acts as the couple's mutual blind friend Isaac, plays his comic relief role well, funny yet retrained as opposed to loud and extravagant like some other comic reliefs tend to be, which wouldn't have been appropriate in this film. Similar restraint can be seen in Dafoe playing Van Houten, but to comment more on his acting would spoil too much for those who know nothing about the story.

The great thing about TFiOS is, perhaps, its normality. Here's a story about two cancer-striken young people fearing their deaths; not exactly something all of us can relate to. Yet, by drawing us into their lives slowly and letting us in on their little text messages to each other, their simple, everyday conversations, their moments of infatuation, it suddenly makes their fears so much more real and visceral to us.

And if you're a young person, like me, it really hits home. You can hear others drone and nag all day about how lucky you are to be healthy, able and whatnot, but to watch these two characters (though fictional) through the metaphorical microscope, and watch the juxtaposition between the normality and abnormality of their lives, really draws your sympathy out like blood from a pin prick. You care for these people, and you feel their anguish at the unfairness of losing so much, at such an early age. It's not unfair to say that TFiOS primarily caters to a young audience, and if the makers were out on a quest to send a message, I think they did a brilliant job.

Still unconvinced? I cried. I have never, ever cried in a cinema, and I shamelessly admit I was reaching for Emerlyn's tissues (she and Priya had started way before me) as the movie reached its final act. So there's your long answer.


Picture credit to www.shsmaroon.org.