Book to Movie. Rad or Bad? The Fault In Our Stars Edition.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars is based on the hugely successful novel by John Green. "Hazel and Gus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they met and fell in love at a cancer support group." You can check out my review of the book here.

CHARACTERS

Hazel Grace Lancaster


Shailene Woodly is slowly becoming one of my favorite actresses for portraying characters from books. She has done Aimee Finicky (The Spectacular Now), Tris Prior (Divergent), and now Hazel Grace Lancaster, a great deed in creating these characters on the big screen. Hazel was everything I wanted her to be. Snarky, sarcastic, mature yet slightly adolescent, and a bit dark. It was perfect.



Augustus Waters
I really enjoy watching Ansel Elgort act, I really do. I think he is an amazing actor. His portrayal of Augustus had enough maturity mixed with enough adolescent joy that he was easy to see why Hazel falls in love with him. Some of the time he was just awkward which was a nice thing to see. Many "teenage heart throbs" are always hot and smart all the time but it was good to see a romantic lead act a little awkward at times. And oh my gosh, look out for the gas station scene. It broke my heart. Props to Elgort.

Isaac



Honestly, I freaking love Nat Wolff. He was a lot of the humor in the movie, but it wasn't dry humor. In my opinion, it is harder to play a comedic role than it is to play a dramatic one and Wolff NAILED IT! His portrayal of Isaac was so incredibly perfect. All of his one liners, and sarcasm really made the movie hilarious.




Peter Van Houten 
 
Honestly, I was a pleasantly surprised by Van Houten in the movie. He was not exactly what I was expecting, but still lived up to what I wanted him to be. If that makes any sense. He was a douche 99% of the time on screen. It was tremendous acting from Willem Dafoe.


Mr. & Mrs. Lancaster

These two were great parents! They weren't in the movie all that much so I didn't want to seperate them. However, the scenes they were in you could see the love they had for Hazel and how they would do absolutely anything for her <3



Patrick

Can I just say that this was probably one of the best parts of the whole movie? Patrick is just so incredibly ridiculous. The little back story montage thing explaining his cancer was gold. I didn't stop laughing!




Missing
There were a few characters that were missing in the movie. Kaitlyn, Hazels friend from before she was sick was not in the movie. And Caroline, Gus' ex girlfriend, was never mentioned. I completely understand why these characters were cut. There was simply not enough time to highlight what happens in every aspect of the book. Unfortunate, but necessary. Also John Green's Cameo was cut. (He was the little girl's father that asks about Hazel's cannula. See picture below)

PLOT

Hazel's Commentary: It is very rare to find a movie where I like the commentary that a character gives during a movie. I find that it often takes a lot of the emotion out of a movie. I didn't like it all that much. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes it just felt annoying and out of place.

Text Bubbles: I liked all the text bubbles. While I am not a fan of , I really liked the text bubbles. It allowed the audience to know what the characters were saying without having that floating voice.

Romance Scene: I thought this was very tastefully done. Of course, since I watched it with Lisa she began feeling awkward. Also a (very large, black) man took his daughters and friends to see the movie and he watched it with them. When this scene came on he said, and I quote "Oh hell no! I am not watching this!" Then he preceded to get up and walk out of the theater. BEST. FAN. REACTION. EVER.

Anne Frank House: One thing I liked about the Anne Frank House, other than they actually filmed there, was that before Hazel and Gus made out the commentary from Anne Frank's Diary was all about seeing the beauty in the world and taking advantage of it. I thought it was a perfect mirror for what Gus said about not denying himself the opportunity of looking at beautiful things. Also, according to Lisa, the German man that said something after the kiss said "Keep Going". I laughed.

Humor: This movie was so humorous, which is a somewhat good thing. The funny things were actually funny but I felt that some scenes were too funny. or funny when they didn't need to be. Towards the end when I felt that I should be bawling, I just wasn't. Someone would crack a joke or there would be a delay in the action (like from the pre-funeral to saying Augustus died). This brings me to the fact that I didn't cry. I teared up a bit, but it never overflowed.

Gas Station Scene: I just have to make sure you all know how incredibly amazing Ansel Elgort was in this scene. It blew my mind and broke my heart.

Egging Monica's Car: Effing AWESOME! This scene was probably one of the best in the whole movie.

Final Verdict: 

I thought this was a great movie! There were many direct quotations from the book which was awesome, the acting was amazing, and the story was faithful to the book! Though I am rather disappointed that I didn't cry, I still thought this movie was worth the money that I paid for. I suggest that everyone who is a fan of The Fault In Our Stars, watch the movie! You will not be disappointed!

-Shawnee Smith