Film Review: The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars. Rated M (mature themes and coarse language). 126 minutes. Directed by Josh Boone. Screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber. Based on the novel by John Green.

Verdict: Two exceptional young stars make the journey worth taking.

Hazel (Shailene Woodley) is a 17-year-old living with cancer. The disease, first diagnosed in her thyroid, has metastasised to her lungs, and everywhere Hazel goes her trusty oxygen tank goes too. When her doting parents Fran (Laura Dern) and Michael (Sam Trammell) suggest she join a support group for young cancer survivors, Hazel reluctantly attends. As fate would have it, it is there that she meets Augustus (Ansel Elgort), and the two begin a relationship that will ultimately challenge everything they had hoped would define the remainder of their short lives.

Woodley and Elgort (who most recently appeared together as brother and sister in Divergent) are exceptional in the leading roles, capturing the heady romance, abundant humour and the fierce dramatic peaks beautifully. They receive solid, if thinly-drawn, support from Dern (Enlightened, Jurassic Park) and Trammel (True Blood), while Nat Wolff shines as Isaac, Augustus’ best friend.

As a counterpoint to the main characters’ fearless optimism for the value of life and love, Willem Dafoe’s cruel, alcoholic author Peter Van Houten is a fascinating character. Having written Hazel’s favourite book, Van Houten is now a recluse living in Amsterdam. What appears to be a far-fetched plot device, later reveals itself to be an emotional lynch-pin that highlights how important it is to confront the presence of life-threatening illness with honesty, fearlessness and unequalled determination to survive.

Boone does a fine job keeping the performances unfailingly honest, and while Neustadter and Weber’s ambling screenplay could have done with a judicious edit, the time we spend in the company of our unforgettable young hero and heroine is extremely rewarding. Just have a big box of tissues handy.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.