The Fault In Our Stars hit theaters last night with random evening showings around the country, and this morning, it officially opened everywhere. I saw it and am proud to report it was a damn fine movie and even stole two tears out of my right eye. I tried to fight it, but in the end, it was just too well done and too touching to robot my way through the entire movie. That being said, the film left me with quite a bit to talk about; so, let’s get to it.
As the title indicates, what follows is a discussion with spoilers. Feel free to go absolutely crazy in the comment section ranting and raving about the smallest details and biggest plot points of the entire movie. If you haven’t seen the film yet, do yourself a favor and bail on this article. Then go see The Fault In Our Stars and return to this exact story immediately afterwards.
On the whole, The Fault In Our Stars is a very faithful book adaptation. The general story arc remains in tact, and all the characters work together in the same fashion. That being said, certain things work better than others about this movie. So, let’s throw some talking points out there.
How did Shailene Woodley do? You could make a case that she plays Hazel as a bit more of a negative person than she is in the book. That makes her struggle a little more tortured, and it really hammers home how much her situation sucks. On the other hand, however, it negates a certain percentage of her charm.
Was Ansel Elgort great or was he GREAT? I suspect opinion, as it usually is, will be decidedly split on Shailene Woodley and what she decided to do with her character, but I can’t imagine there will be any division with Ansel Elgort. He totally brought Augustus to life in all his optimistic and goofy ways.
Was the movie the right length? Personally, I was engaged for the entire two hours and five minutes, but that’s a lengthy film that needs a large audience of young people. A lot of movies made for such a crowd have brisk running times. That being said, the movie wasn’t even long enough to include some random loveable scenes from the books. So, it’s possible there will be some hardcore book fans who will be pissed about the lack of length.
Do we get enough of the supporting characters? That’s one choice filmmakers always have to make when they’re adapting a novel. Should time be spent to really get to know the side characters or should they be pushed aside even further to fixate on the journey of the main characters? In novels, you can do it all. In movies, you can’t. Here, director Josh Boone chooses Hazel and Augustus over the Lancasters and Isaac.
How much did you cry? I need to know because I am not a crier, and I still lost a few tears. In fact, I haven’t cried at the movies since the first ten minutes of Up all the way back in 2009, but when Frannie Lancaster opened Hazel’s door in the middle of the night, I couldn’t fight it off anymore. What moment got you? I need to commiserate in the comment section.
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