The Fault in Our Stars

Movie Title--  The Fault in Our Stars

Release Year--  2014

Running Time--  2 Hours and 6 Minutes

Director--  Josh Boone

Cast--  Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe, Lotte Verbekk, David Whalen, Milica Govich

Two teenagers with two different types of cancer meet at a cancer support group and fall in love.

Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is 17 and is terminally ill with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs.  Her mother (Laura Dern), believing Hazel is depressed, insists that she attend a cancer support group for young people to make friends and to get her out of the house.  Not wanting to cause her mother any further concern, she agrees to go.  Her mother drops her off and as Hazel is heading into support group, she runs into a boy that she has never seen before.  Once she sits down in the circle, she sees the boy again and soon learns that his name is Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort).  He shares with the group that he had bone cancer that took his leg but goes on to say that he has been feeling fine and is there to support his friend Issac (Nat Wolff) who is about to lose his remaining eye to cancer.

Augustus finds Hazel after the meeting and invites her to go to his house and watch a film.  After a little bit of hesitation she decides to go and tells her mother she will be home later.  She rides with him to his house and the ride is very jerky and rough and he admits that he failed his test several times before one of the instructors passed him, something both teens refer to as a "cancer perk".  The two of them become fast friends and before she goes home, they agree to read each other's favorite novels; Augustus' is "The Price of Dawn" and Hazel's is "An Imperial Affliction".

After a few days of silence from Augustus, he texts her and asks what happened to the rest of the book and excusing herself from the table, she calls him so they talk about the book.  She then tells him that the book's author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), moved to Amsterdam and hasn't been heard from since leaving America.  A few weeks later, Augustus tells Hazel that he has communicated with Van Houten through his assistant and after hearing that Van Houten has responded, she asks Augustus for Van Houten's email address.  She promptly sends him an email and he responds, telling her that he can not give her answers in writing but is she ever found herself in Amsterdam, to look him up.  In her excitement, she asks her mother if they can go to Amsterdam but her mother replies that they do not have the money for such a big trip.  

Hazel goes to the hospital for a routine scan and when her family arrives home, Augustus is waiting for her in a basketball jersey, holding orange tulips and asks her out for a picnic lunch.  While having their lunch, Augustus tells her that he had been saving his "cancer wish" and that he requested to go to Amsterdam but told the "wish givers" that he would only go if he could take her along as well and they agreed.  Hazel is thrilled and once she is home, she tells her parents the good news.

However, in the days leading up to when they are supposed to leave for their trip, Hazel's lungs fill up with fluid and she is admitted into the ICU.  The fluid is drained off her lungs and she recovers but when she asks about going to Amsterdam, the doctors are reluctant to let her go.  They are soon persuaded to allow Hazel to go on the trip but it is to be shortened in order to get her home and supervised by her doctors.

Hazel and Augustus, with Hazel's mom and dad in tow, set off to Amsterdam where they will discover what it feels to  live like "normal" people if only for a short time, share in a great disappointment and learn to love with no regrets.

I enjoyed this film.  I won't lie, I watched it three days after I finished the book, so I found myself doing a lot of comparing (I tend to find that 99.9% of the time, the book is always better) but once I let go of the book version and really watched what was unfolding on screen, I enjoyed the film more. 

I loved Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in these roles.  At first I wasn't sure about them (again, by reading the book I kinda made my own image of the two of them) but watching their onscreen chemistry was great.  They really do help you to believe that they are two young people that are falling in love with each other in front of your eyes, despite Hazel trying to distance herself from him.  They really do compliment each other on the screen.

I would suggest this film for anyone looking for a love story, just know that like a lot of true love stories, this one is sad.  If you haven't already read the book at the time you decide to watch the film, I recommend that you read it sometime, it really is a very excellent book.  Keep the tissues handy for this one and Don't Forget the Popcorn!