Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one to review. Full disclosure going in my wife made me watch this on Netflix one night. I was willing to give it a chance though as I am very fond of a good drama and I had heard some good things about The Fault in Our Stars so I went in with an open mind.
How to Stream or Download The Fault in Our Stars
You can stream it or you can download the movie from iTunes. it can be watched in HD or in 4K if you have Apple TV 4K. To start, click on the button at the end of the review.
The Film Review
This is actually based on a book, a book that I have never read, but director Josh Boone was given the task of bringing it to the big screen. The movies main two stars are Shailene Woodley who plays Hazel Grace Lancaster and Ansel Elgort as Gus. The main two characters played by Woodley and Elgort have great chemistry and this is what most people love about the movie. The two actors really do a phenomenal job.
The basics of the story are that Hazel has terminal cancer and her mother encourages her to join a support group where she meets a cancer survivor called Gus and the two of them hit it off. They text, chat and start to become really close. What really bonds them though is a book that is written by Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) the book though has some issues for Gus.
He cannot get his head around the ending of the book and tracks down Van Houten to Amsterdam where he and Hazel plan to take a trip. The two of them get closer and closer the whole time of the movie and in all honesty that is what is going to make or break this movie for you. If you buy into these two having this very special connection.
Even if your heart is made of stone it is impossible not to root for these two. They both have been dealt the most unfair hand by life so you really want them to be happy and you also pray that they can get over the health troubles that they have.
I do not want to give spoilers away for how the movie progresses, but I found this to be a movie that tries way, way too hard. I know that sounds heartless and I know that there were lots of people who were balling their eyes out at this movie and I get it I really do. The performances from the two leads are fantastic, they really are.
However, for me, it just came across as very forced and many of the lines that were supposed to be heartfelt and sweep you off your feet came across as a real attempt to manipulate the audience’s emotions. Hey if it worked on you, more power to you and I bet the movie had quite a powerful impact if it did.
With that being said though, The Fault In Our Stars is one of those movies that is either going to sweep you away and have you crying into a box full of tissues. Or it is going to have you rolling your eyes the whole time you watch it. I really do not see any middle ground with this one. It is worth a watch though and if you get sucked into it then I think you will find yourself on quite the emotional rollercoaster.
