Everyone is dying, but teenager Hazel Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is going faster than most people her age. The film, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by writer John Green, opens with the character sardonically narrating that most books about cancer are sugar-coated, pandering fiction.
Right away, this meta humor sets the film apart from most young adult literature and movies. At a young age she was diagnosed with cancer and given only a short amount of time to live. She buys a little more time on Earth by taking part in an experimental drug study that prolongs her life. Her parents (Laura Dernc and Sam Trammell) try to get their depressed daughter to go to a church cancer support group. She says she is not depressed, although, she points out, having cancer is a pretty good excuse for feeling blue.
If the chemotherapy does not make Hazel nauseous, the guitar-strumming cancer counselor standing in front of a rug with a giant Jesus on it might. At the group she meets a swoon-worthy teen named Gus Waters (Ansel Elgort) who is just there for his friend Isaac (Nat Wolff). Gus is a cancer survivor, but the battle took one of his legs. Hazel and Gus share a sense of humor and a wisdom beyond their ages. Hazel gives Gus a mammoth novel about cancer that means a great deal to her, and Gus manages to contact the reclusive author (Willem Dafoe), who now lives in Amsterdam.
The young lovers grasp for meaning in their lives and try to live in the present and not worry about the inevitable future. The two become inseparable even though they know one will lose the other.
For being a tearjerker based on a young adult novel, this is a surprisingly mature and sharp film.
The script, adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who wrote “(500) Days of Summer” and “The Spectacular Now,” avoids the cloying sentimentality and mawkishness that many films of its ilk drown in. It is true that the film does not show the true pain and ugliness of cancer outside of brief flashbacks and a scene where a character is crying with some dribble coming from the mouth. The physical effects of the disease and the medical ordeals one goes through are swept under the rug. Cancer is not just being out of breath every once in awhile and getting shots.
What the film does face head-on is the emotional effect the disease has on young people and their friends and family. The romantic aspect of the story is a way for the two young people to form a deep connection and discuss their feelings for each other and what life means to them. By caring so much for each other, they are able to be bluntly honest about their mortality and their darkest thoughts and fears. The film gets a little too schmaltzy, straining to milk tears from the audience, towards the end, but for a majority of the running time the film remains mature and thoughtful. The ending strains credibility when a certain character appears again. The change in this character in the third act is too drastic and manipulative to completely work. What he adds to the plot could have been done in a more subtle way.
The acting is another major factor in the success of the film. Dern and Dafoe are seasoned vets who always bring an emotional weight to their work. Woodley is the real deal. In “The Descendants” and “The Spectacular Now” before this, she has proven herself to be a natural screen presence. She simply radiates off the screen. Even without talking she is able to grab the audience and show them the beauty and essence of her character. Elgort combines the cockiness and warmth of Gus, and the two actors click as soon as they appear together.
It is easy to make a soapy movie-of-the-week film where characters learn life lessons in the midst of dying although they look like models and the worst they suffer on screen is some coughing. “The Fault in Our Stars” falls into some of those pitfalls at times, but it rises above those mediocre medical melodramas because of a smart script and believable performances.