The 'faults' in The Faults In Our Stars

The Faults In Our Stars
English (U/A) ¬
Director: Josh Boone
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Willem Dafoe

Nothing quite builds a relationship like common ground. And in The Fault In Our Stars, that common ground is the battle against cancer.

For Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), the fight to survive is what brought them each other’s love, making the individual pain they experience in the process irrelevant.

This movie, however, tries but fails to produce a heart-wrenching image of the blossoming romance between two beautiful and idealogically different teenagers who are faced with an imminent death.

Among the several failures in this movie is the weak attempt at philosophising the plot and the subsequent ridiculous levels of romance. Hazel preaches about arguably cynical “truths”, which of course, blows Augustus away. His whimsicality is quickly replaced by an uninspiring awe and Hazel is now on an impractically-high pedestal.

Cheesiness is understandably inevitable in romantic movies, but it needn’t be incorporated as arbitrarily as it is in this movie. Listening to the dialogues in The Fault In Our Stars has the capability to make even hopeless dairy-loving romantics experience a sudden bout of lactose intolerance.

Unfortunately, the cinematography only adds to the almost-immediate sickening effect of the plot. A person who didn’t enjoy The Notebook or Walk the Line experience would consider giving the movies a second chance after watching this film.

Time moves surprisingly slow with the long-drawn-out scenes. Excessive focus on the faces of Woodley and Ergot, despite being attractive, only adds to the feeling of inactivity the movie impresses. Lovers of John Green, who wrote the book this film was adapted from, would perhaps argue in favour of The Fault In Our Stars.

But for more balanced and dignified romance, watch or read Stephen Chboksy’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Because if you ever questioned whether romantic dramas could get worse, this movie might just be that answer.